Learning From Carter

Jimmy Carter's failure as a president was evident pretty early on, and like many a politician Carter's response was to look for a scapegoat. Unwisely he decided to make it the American people: his cries of "malaise" only heightened his ineffectiveness and earned him the enmity of the average citizen. Obama and his Machiavellian handlers have perhaps learned from this; the new scapegoat is more Emmanuel Goldstein than you and your neighbor, because no one likes to be told something is their fault. Now we have Rush Limbaugh, Dick Cheney, Fox News and their unwitting accomplices: The Neanderthal Republican Congressman, the Flyover State Yokel and (shudder) The Teabagger.