Obama is not Carter

Interesting post by Nate Silver at Five Thirty Eight on Obama and Carter comparisons. The important point Carter went up for re-election in the middle of a worsening economy, and Obama is up in the middle of a very poor recovery. I add my 2 cents with the graph below.

The graph shows private employment growth in the four years of the Carter administration, and for Obama the three first years and the average of the first four months of 2012. Note that by 1980 private employment fell 0.2%, and is invisible in the graph. In the case of Obama the trend is up, but slowing down. Obama could increase public employment to help the lackluster private demand, but that is another story.