Inside the Asylum

Get your t-shirt now.

(via Rene's Apple)

[Update] More on the "Welcome back, Carter" meme over at Transterrestrial Musings.

I've just invented a new word... you heard it here first. Carter and Obama are cut from the same cloth. Maybe they're clones? A Cartobama clone. If it's true, then the United States is truly cursed by the gods.

Comparing Carter and Obama has been been a running theme of mine, so I thought I should put them all together... I'm adding a new topic to the categories bar called "Cartobama". Check them out.

Well, someone else seems to have used the term before, but it doesn't seem to have been used in the way I'm using it.

Whenever Obama undercuts an American friend (often by trying to make friends with people who are never going to become American allies, like Hugo Chavez) everyone is watching. North Korea? Does Japan really expect Obama to back them up if push comes to shove? Do we really want to see Japan re-arming itself for effective offensive operations? Does Taiwan trust Obama to back them up against China? Worse still if China decides that the Americans wouldn't help. Do we really want to see a serious cross-straits crisis? If Israel concludes it can't rely on USA, then they have no other choice than to take action into their own hands. Russia very clearly believes that USA is an unreliable ally ... so Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine, Georgia, etc. ... the list of countries that ought to be nervous is too long to list. This is worse than stupid, and the consequences will last much longer than the term of a single president. Even if USA gets a decent president, other powers will remember that this means nothing because sooner or later there'll be another Carter-Obama, and they'll get sold down the river. Better to make alliances with less pleasant but more reliable partners than to tie yourself to USA for a decade or two until the inevitable betrayal.

Remember the "blooper" that Obama dropped during the election campaign?

"It is wonderful to be back in Oregon," Obama said. "Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go. Alaska and Hawaii, I was not allowed to go to even though I really wanted to visit, but my staff would not justify it." ... At a later stop Obama was talking with reporters and expressed concern he'd also mis-stated the number of potential cyclone victims in Burma. He said, "I understand I said there were 57 states today. It's a sign that my numeracy is getting a little, uh." At that point, an aide cut him off and ushered journalists out. Before he could mis-speak again?

It turns out that it wasn't a mistake after all. He really does believe in 57 states ... just not in the United States of America. Gulf News reports on Obama's 57-state solution...

Surprisingly, however, Obama has now come up with the '57-state solution', leaked to the world by King Abdullah of Jordan. The idea builds upon the Arab Initiative, which calls for collective peace between the 22 member states of the Arab League, and Israel. The new plan calls for peace between Israel and 57 Muslim states, not just the members of the Arab League... Many in the Arab world are doubtful that the 57-state solution will bear fruit. Obama however, has surely tested the waters with most of the 57-states involved - members of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference - who are due to meet in Syria on May 23, before discussing his plan with King Abdullah.

Also worth noting in the comments:

I think Obama stands head and shoulders above any previous American president except for Jimmy Carter in his vision for the Middle East. (Says a reader from Chapel Hill, USA)

As I said before: even the left is starting to drawing parallels between Carter and Obama. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: if 4 years of Carter brought 8 years of Reagan, then let's hope that 4 years of a Mega-Carter will bring 8 years of a Mega-Reagan.
[Update] I just noticed something strange. When the founder of the ancient Chinese Han Dynasty died, his empire consisted of 57 kingdoms and commanderies. Who knows? Maybe Obama thought he was campaigning to rule the Han Dynasty? Just as strangely, I mentioned that emperor (Liu Bang) not long ago.

In the LA Times today:

It sure was nice seeing representatives of the insurance industry sitting down with the president and declaring that they know the healthcare system needs to be overhauled and that they definitely want to be part of the solution. Just one small thing: Does anybody trust them? I spoke last week with a variety of healthcare experts, and not one could give me a "yes" to that question. "Some of these people in the insurance industry are friends of mine," said Alain Enthoven, a professor emeritus at the Stanford Graduate School of Business who served as a consultant to the Carter administration on healthcare issues. "I like them personally. But I don't trust them."

So let's sum this up shall we? Obama met with health care representatives and came out of the meeting claiming that the health care providers had made specific promises leading to $2 trillion dollars in savings (and even then, as I commented at the time, the claims sounded spurious, since it was actually decreases in future increases in health care costs), and subsequent to that the same health care representatives denied they'd ever made such promises and had corroborating evidence to that effect. And now journalist David Lazarus asks us whether we trust the health care providers??? Can we trust a single word that comes out of Obama's mouth? How about that question? Lazarus's column nowhere even mentions that Obama's claims about the meeting have already been repudiated.
Second point worth noting: both in the quoted section and elsewhere in the article, Lazarus makes comparisons to the Carter administration, even saying "here we go again". When even fawning LA Times journalists are making comparisons between Obama and Carter, you know we're in trouble. Still, as I asked before, since four years of Carter brought 8 years of Reagan, will 4 years of uber-Carter bring 8 years of Uber-Reagan?
[Update] Related story How To Sniff Out A Liar.

Men tend to lie to make themselves look better.

Yep, that seems to about cover it.

A journalist comments on Israel and Netanyahu's position:

For the leaders coming to Washington, waiting out President Obama is not an option.

and also

The stakes are high for Mr Netanyahu. His political coalition hinges on not saying the words "two-state solution", yet Israel's long-term relationship with the Obama Administration depends on him saying them.

I suspect that this shows why American intervention in the Middle East is never going to work. To a western journalist, 3 years seems like a long time. A "long term relationship" similarly appears to mean 3 years, since Obama is already clearly going to be a one-term disaster a la Carter. To a Jew, an Arab, a Turk, or a Persian, 3 years is a fleeting glance between ships that pass in the night; a century is an acquaintance; a millennium is a long term relationship.

After Obama successfully replaced the dictionary definition of "Chutzpah" with a photo of himself (see earlier post), he aims for a place in the Guinness Book of Records:

"The long-term deficit and debt that we have accumulated is unsustainable. We can't keep on just borrowing from China or borrowing from other countries," Obama told a town hall meeting event in New Mexico. "We have to pay interest on that debt and that means that we're mortgaging our children's future with more and more debt," he said.

Once again, my initial outrage that the biggest spending president of all time could say such things, has been replaced by the realization that this really shows that the Tea Party message is being heard. Right now it just means that the Obama regime thinks that it can continue to spend and do whatever it likes, as long as it says the right words. There is a stunning level of arrogance and contempt for the American people here. That's the situation for now, but 2 years of Carter brought the big Californian tax revolt, and 4 years of Carter brought 8 years of Reagan. When faced with an ultra-Carter, does this mean we can look forward to an ultra-tax revolt, and then an ultra-Reagan?

Obama had this to say today:

"The whole notion was that if we showed courtesy or opened up dialogue with governments that had previously been hostile to us, that that somehow would be a sign of weakness... [but] it doesn't make sense."

Let's see ... which post-WWII US president does this most resemble? Could you imagine these words in the mouth of a Reagan? Of either Bush? Of Nixon? of Clinton? Of Kennedy? Anyone? Let's face it, there's only one possible candidate: Carter. Read on. You may well see a few other things that remind you of Obama, or which foreshadow events to come.

Let's see how that worked out shall we? Let's have a look at world events during Carter's watch from 1977 to 1981.
1978: Californian voters stage tax revolt and pass Prop 13 against property taxes.
Vietnam attacks Cambodia
Carter permits home brewing of beer in USA (chalk one up on the plus side).
1979: Iranian revolution. One of USA's strongest allies in the middle-east becomes her worst enemy.
US ambassador to Afghanistan is kidnapped and later killed during fight between police and kidnappers.
Mr Ed, the talking horse, dies. (Damn you Carter!)
Wildlife strikes back: Carter attacked by bunny.
Britain changes direction: Margaret Thatcher elected Prime Minister of Britain.
Saddam Hussein becomes President of Iraq
Sandinista revolt establishes Marxist government in Nicaragua.
Chrysler asks US government for $1billion.
Iran hostage crisis begins with invasion of embassy on Nov 4th.
US embassy in Pakistan attacked by mob who set fire to it.
Soviet troops invade Afghanistan.
1980: Carter gives $1.5 billion in loan guarantees to Chrysler.
Robert Mugabe becomes Prime Minister of Zimbabwe.
Finally in April USA severs diplomatic relations with Iran.
Operation Eagle Claw (attempt to rescue hostages) ends in chaos with 8 US servicemen dead, April 24-25th.
Carter signs Proclamation 4771 which made 19 & 20 year old males register for peacetime military draft.
Reagan wins Republican Party nomination to contest next presidential election.
Military coup in Turkey.
Iran-Iraq War begins.
Reagan defeats Carter in presidential election.
OPEC decides to raise price of oil by 10%.
1981: In January, USA and Iran finally come to agreement to release hostages.
Reagan comes to power, Jan 20th 1981, ending four dismal years of Carter.

[Update] It looks like I'm ahead of the curve. A day after I posted this, Pajamas Media has a story comparing Obama to Carter. (via Instapundit)
[Further Update] This just in: the empire strikes back! US President bites bunny.