Jimmy Carter Deja Vu?

Barack Obama is going through a rough stretch as POTUS. Nearly every high profile election that has occurred in the last year has been played in Obama territory, but has been won by the opposition party, sometimes in rout fashion. Then there is the manner in which the Obama agenda has been stalled. Yes, it's certainly true that Republicans on Capitol Hill have marched in lockstep opposition to most of Obama's agenda. And yes, as a Republican myself, I am less than fully supportive of what Republicans are doing. While I think most of their opposition to Obama's agenda is on the merits, there is little doubt in my mind that a political calculation has also been made that puts short-term political gain ahead of the need to constructively address critically important issues.

But with all that said, in the end, it is the Democrats themselves who have become the 'monkey in the wrench' of Obama's plans. Consider:

1) Healthcare - the disunity of the Dems over the last year on healthcare is well documented, and continues to this day. With a 70+ majority in the House, and an 18 seat majority in the Senate, the Dems have had enormous difficulty getting their own members (not to mention the public at large) on board with their plans. The bill they had to pass in the Senate in order to get 60 Dem votes is a bill that by all accounts can't get 216 Dem votes in the House, despite the Dems having over 250 votes in the House. This is not a case of Republicans thwarting healthcare. It's a case of Dems not being able to agree amongst themselves about the way forward on healthcare.

2) 'Jobs Bill' - the latest on this is that the House, with their 250+ Dem members, isn't able to pass a very modest 'jobs bill' that emerged out of the Senate. As with healthcare, a sizeable number of Dems are balking at the Senate's bill and want changes that the Senate Dems might not be able to stomach. The ping-pong of inaction continues.

3) Environmental regulation - when Obama decided to do an end-around Congress and give EPA regulatory authority over clean air guidelines last year, there was some brief dustup that appeared to have subsided. But now, a core group of Dems in both the Senate and House are joining Republicans in cosponsoring legislation that would defang the EPA on this issue. Again, it is Dems who are voicing opposition to the Obama agenda, and are prepared to vote that way.

Often lost in the various post-mortems done on Jimmy Carter's presidency was the almost constant dysfunction that existed between the WH and the Dem controlled Congress. Among other things, the Carter presidency became known as a period in which Dems controlled everything, but couldn't agree on anything. Four years is a long time for a condition like this to exist. It would be wise for Obama and the Dems in Congress to realize the degree to which this narrative is taking hold among the electorate.