Welcome Back, Carter

Politico should always be your one-stop shop for Washington’s conventional wisdom, and today’s Alexander Burns column is no exception:

So much for campaigning against Jimmy Carter.

In the aftermath of Osama bin Laden’s death, Republicans are adjusting to a new political reality: with the bin Laden trump card now in President Barack Obama’s possession, it’s looking increasingly likely the 2012 campaign will ride on a single number—the national unemployment rate.

What about that other number — inflation? Or that other Carter-era gem, stagflation?

If the problem were only unemployment, the Fed would probably feel free to keep goosing the economy with free money. But even Bernanke seems, finally, to understand that things are just a little more complicated.