Matthews: Will Democrats 'Run Away From President O-Carter' - I Mean Obama?

Chris Matthews made a delicious Freudian slip this weekend calling Barack Obama President Carter.

In the first segment of the syndicated program bearing his name, Matthews and panel discussed what Democrats are going to have to do to win in the upcoming midterm elections.

The consensus was that they can't run on what they've "accomplished" in the past eighteen months because Americans are unhappy about the exploding federal debt and healthcare reform.

Quite surprisingly the famous "Matthews Meter" found twelve out of twelve show regulars believe the anti-Democrat feeling in the nation is so strong Republicans could win in a wave election this year without actually proposing an agenda.

This hysterically led the host to ask his guests, "Will the Democrats running for the House re-election, they're all running for re-election under the Constitution, and the Senate candidates, will they run away from President O-Carter?" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Will the Democrats running for the House re-election, they're all running for re-election under the Constitution, and the Senate candidates, will they run away from President O'Carter? I mean, will they run away.

[Laughter and crosstalk]

JOHN HEILEMANN, NEW YORK MAGAZINE: Calling Dr. Freud, calling Dr. Freud. 

MATTHEWS: I know. Will they run away from President Obama?

Nice, Chris. When deep down in your subconscious, you know that Obama is this decade's version of Jimmy Carter, that's saying something.

Of course, this isn't the first time Matthews made this comparison. As NewsBusters reported on November 22, 2009, Matthews began a segment of his program that weekend:

The word these days is optics, visuals, signals. In the Carter presidency, the optics were not exactly robust, and Ronald Reagan rode that to a big victory in 1980. Is the Obama White House sending some Carteresque signals these days?

Is Matthews now worried that the rest of the country is getting these signals?

Only his hairdresser and psychiatrist know for sure.