The parallels between 1977 and 2009 are mounting...and that must be haunting to Democrats and liberals with any sort of historical memory.
Just as in '77, a politician bereft of national experience, yet swollen with a sense of his own sanctimony and virtue, ascended to the presidency, announcing an Age of Aquarius for a nation weary of war, corruption, and economic collapse. Like Obama, Carter succeeded a president with a genial disposition and near-total inability to express himself intelligently. Like Obama, Carter had a filibuster-proof Senate majority (60 votes exactly!), and a discredited opposition in total intellectual and organizational disarray. And like Obama, Carter had a sweeping agenda of major legislation that he dumped on Congress to enact, largely without his involvement or intervention.
Fortunately for the Republic, Carter's legislative achievements were ultimately meager, if galling (alas, the Department of Education is with us forever...), and so is likely to be the case with Obama.
Obama has declared, "being president means being able to do more than one thing at a time." Mmm no, not really. At least, not doing it well.
But let him learn the hard way. The rest of us will be spared a mess of expensive and unwieldy programs that live on in our wallets, enduring into eternity...
