A political narrative spun for Obama is that he is Jimmy Carter.  In short, hope for change, and be a one-term president.  Well, if Obama is Carter, then that would make Romney Reagan, right?  Well, outside of maybe the hair, how is Romney Reagan?

Why does either candidate have to be like either one of them? I dont think either one of them is like either of those past presidents.

I'd have to agree with Gergroy on this one. I don't see what Carter and Reagan have to do with Obama and Romney. They both served so long ago. In fact, Carter recently criticized Obama's Nobel Peace Prize, pointing out the hypocrisy of giving one to a president who approves the daily use of dropping drone missiles all over the Middle East and killing thousands of innocent civilians.

Just looking at the narrative that is being spun.  Put this into Google: Obama Carter .

If you do that, you will find articles like these:

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/obama-klein-axelrod-emanuel/2012/06/11/id/441920

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/08/07/obama-is-jimmy-carter-20-56179038/

That is the narrative trying to be spun.  Obama is a failure the way Carter was.  For this to work, Mitt Romney would have to be Reagan.  So that is why the question is to be asked.  If Obama is Carter, then what makes Romney Reagan.

You seem to be missing the point of those articles.  Carter wasn't defined by Reagan, he was defined by his ineffectiveness as well as his naivity.  Carter is widely considered a failed president.  These articles are talking about Obama's failures and how they resemble Carter.  I don't see how Romney has to be the same as Reagan for that analogy to work.  

edit: However, I guess I will bite.   If you wanted to compare Romney to Reagan there are some similiarities.

1. They both started out their political careers as liberals and gravitated to be more conservative over time.

2. They were both governors of more liberal states.

3. They both lost the first time they ran for president

4. They both ran/running similar platforms (reduce taxes, less government, states rights, strong military)

5. They both ran against an incumbent president with approval ratings below 50%

Of course, there are plenty of differences as well, but if somebody were trying to do a vague analogy to a past president like you are trying to do, there is certainly support for it.  

To be fair... he did get that nobel prize before he decided to kill thousands of innocent civilians.

Though it does show how stupid the nobel prize commission's rationale was however.

The big differnce between Jimmy Carter and Obama is that Jimmy Carter wasn't fit to be President at a time of war/bad economic troubles... while Obama just isn't fit to be president.

The big difference between Romney and Obama is... Romney is a mormon.  I don't know... he'd likely just continue the same lame economic policies anyway.

None of them are at Reagan's level... which is sad because i'm not terribly fond of  Reagan.

pretty big different between Carter and Reagan, pretty much no real difference between Obama and Romney. Calling either of them Carter is an insult to Carter, and i don't particularly like Carter.

Difference between Romney and Reagan is that Reagan was FAR more liberal than the GOP currently is. :I

Only thanks to the Romney time machine.

Reason why I look at it, is to see how this election could shape up to be a repeat of what happened in 1980, which is why you have the Hannitys, etc... in the world trying to connect Carter to Obama.  For that to work, need to see how Romney would fit into the role Reagan did in 1980.  And I ask this, because I don't see it.  Even if one can link Obama to Carter, Romney isn't iconically associated with conservatism the way Reagan did, and there hasn't been a big huge run of liberalism either the way it was argued in 1980.  Romney can't run similar that Reagan did and have it stick, and try to get people to end up saying, "The government is the problem" they way they did with Reagan.  There is mass lack of faith in just about every era.

It can be argued, if there is more of anything, it would be like Carter (if someone wants to push that) against John Kerry in 2004.  Take John Kerry and make him come from a more conservative side of course.  

Anyhow, I could be off here on this, but if people want to show how this election can shape up to be a repeat of 1980, I would be interested in seeing it.