Carter’s Naïve Heir And His Illusions Of Grandeur

Illusions of grandeur are not the same as visions of greatness.  Apparently the First Lady is unfamiliar with this axiom. On the occasion of his 50^th birthday, she said her husband’s ever graying hair is “proof” he’s handled his job well, and deserves re-election in 2012.

“Every day, I see Barack make choices he knows will affect every American family,” Mrs. Obama said in an email blast to supporters. “That’s no small task for anyone—and more proof that he’s earning every last one of those gray hairs.”

Jimmy Carter had gray hair and he didn’t deserve to be re-elected. Fifty-two percent of the country ardently believes that “Captain Awesome” is a bad president and does not deserve reelection.

The Chicago Tribune notes with understatement that Obama "probably will be forced to run on something other than his economic record." That something is the fierce urgency of ferocity:  "It's not going to be 2008 'Yes, we can' anymore. I think it's going to be slash-and-burn," said Democratic pollster Paul Maslin. "We have an embattled incumbent who doesn't have much hope of improving his standing except by point of comparison with his Republican opponent. It's going to be a very different kind of election that's going to be brutal, to be honest."

What’s brutal is employment growth, unemployment levels, bank lending, economic output, income growth, home prices and household expectations for financial well-being—the economy's improvement since the recession's end in June 2009 has been the worst, or one of the worst, since the government started tracking these trends after World War II.

Can this Carter-esque interloper and his minions justifiably make the argument to Americans who are struggling that borrowing four billion dollars a day from lenders like China is still necessary and sustainable?  The answer is not just NO, but HELL NO.

Hat Tip to Weasel Zippers, The Pirate's Cove and The TrogloPundit.