Barack Obama v. Jimmy Carter: Crisis of Confidence

With economic stagnation of sorts, and with the threat of deflation, we have the potential for a new kind of stagflation, as opposed to the stagflation during the Carter years.

The more I kept thinking about this, the more I started wondering whether there might be any more parallels ...

Congress:
Carter, too, had significant Democratic majorities in the Senate and the House:

Both chambers had a Democratic majority. It was the last time either party held a filibuster-proof (60 member) majority in the Senate, until the 111th United States Congress in 2009 (in which both chambers once again held a Democratic majority)

Petroleum:
The BP oozathaon presents a petroleum challenge to Obama, though different from the petroleum issues Carter had to deal with.

The "Gulf"
In Carter's time, it was only the Persian Gulf issues.  Now, we have the Gulf of Mexico and the Persian Gulf as issues.

And how did Carter summarize the situation then?  The following is an excerpt from his "Crisis of Confidence" speech that he gave on July 15, 1979.  Seriously, don't you think it is applicable, quite verbatim, even today?:

The threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways. It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation.
The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of America. 

 Consumer confidence is way down now.  Approval ratings for every branch of government are not anywhere near favorable.  Corporate leaders seem to be only a step or two away being from falling victims to lynch mobs ...
Carter went on to say:

As you know, there is a growing disrespect for government and for churches and for schools, the news media, and other institutions. This is not a message of happiness or reassurance, but it is the truth and it is a warning.
These changes did not happen overnight. They've come upon us gradually over the last generation, years that were filled with shocks and tragedy.

 I guess the difference is that we no longer bother to even say "disrespect" ... instead, we simply say "dis" :)
 More Carter:

The people are looking for honest answers, not easy answers; clear leadership, not false claims and evasiveness and politics as usual.
What you see too often in Washington and elsewhere around the country is a system of government that seems incapable of action. You see a Congress twisted and pulled in every direction by hundreds of well-financed and powerful special interests. You see every extreme position defended to the last vote, almost to the last breath by one unyielding group or another. You often see a balanced and a fair approach that demands sacrifice, a little sacrifice from everyone, abandoned like an orphan without support and without friends.
Often you see paralysis and stagnation and drift. You don't like it, and neither do I. What can we do?
First of all, we must face the truth, and then we can change our course. We simply must have faith in each other, faith in our ability to govern ourselves, and faith in the future of this nation. Restoring that faith and that confidence to America is now the most important task we face. It is a true challenge of this generation of Americans.

Hmmmm .....

Little by little we can and we must rebuild our confidence. We can spend until we empty our treasuries, and we may summon all the wonders of science. But we can succeed only if we tap our greatest resources -- America's people, America's values, and America's confidence.

Good luck, President Carter, er, Obama