With civil unrest breaking out all over the Middle East and Africa sending oil and gas prices through the roof, one could make the case that Barack Obama more and more is looking like Jimmy Carter.
On this weekend's "Chris Matthews Show," the liberal host made it seem that this is even on his mind as he made a rather telling slip of the tongue (video follows with transcript and commentary):
CHRIS MATTHEWS: If the Republicans get a real opportunity next year because President Carter, President - there's a mistake - President uh, uh, Obama doesn't seem to have a grip on it, he doesn’t seem to be able to pull the economy back. He’s not, it’s not working. Who would be the best to exploit that situation? Because that’s the person who would win.
Maybe Matthews' real concern is if unrest continues in the oil-producing world sending gas prices so high that a recession - or even worse, stagflation - reappears prior to next year's elections, it might not matter who the Republicans run for Obama would have as much chance of holding the White House as Carter did in 1980.
*****Update: I've received a number of e-mail messages from readers wondering if Matthews had done this before. All I could find was Chris saying in November 2009 that Obama was making "Carteresque" mistakes.
*****Update II: Readers have pointed out a similar miscue by Matthews last July. I knew there had been something like this, but our search function didn't locate it. "Matthews: Will Democrats 'Run Away From President O-Carter' - I Mean Obama?"
