By Bill O'Reilly

You don't see much of President Carter these days. At 86, he keeps a rather low profile. But he does believe Barack Obama will win re-election next year, even though he seems to understand that Mr. Obama is in deep trouble. In fact, Carter believes the president is facing the same dilemma he did:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Sen. Ted Kennedy had decided to run against me, and some of the more liberal Democrats didn't want to see me have successes. So I experienced a little bit of what President Obama experiences every day; that is an almost total reluctance on the part of any Republican in the House or Senate to give him any support that would bring credit to his administration. So he has a difficult, almost insurmountable problem in dealing with the Congress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

And that's true. There are some Republicans who simply are not going to cooperate with President Obama because they want him out of the White House at almost any cost.

But what Jimmy Carter and apparently Barack Obama do not understand is that it's not about Congress any longer. It's not about pundits like me. It's not about the media or any other entity. The presidential election of 2012 is about the folks. Period.

Many Americans feel insecure. They are worried. Their financial condition is not good. They know they are dependent upon their employers, and they also know that losing their jobs could lead to disaster. An insecure nation is not going to re-elect its leadership.

Franklin Roosevelt said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Well, with all due respect to FDR, that's no longer the case. Americans have a legitimate fear that government is simply out of control, spending the nation into bankruptcy and failing to fix economic problems. That fear is real, and it's a present danger.

What Dick Morris said on Wednesday is true. If the election were held today, President Obama would lose by a substantial margin unless his opponent had less credibility than he does. But if the Republican challenger presents economic solutions to the nation, it is hard to see how Mr. Obama can succeed because of his economic track record.

This is not a partisan analysis. When President Obama took office, I knew he was an income redistribution guy. In fact, I challenged him on that in our first interview during the 2008 campaign. But once elected I decided to give the president a chance to see if his economic vision, big government management of the economy, could turn things around. Well, we all know things have gotten worse, not better.

American voters are angry, frustrated and, again, many of them are scared. Jimmy Carter faced that back in 1980. You can look up what happened to him.

And that's "The Memo."

Pinheads & Patriots

As you know, Barry Manilow writes the songs, but he's also involved in politics:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was also reported that you made a contribution in 2007 to Ron Paul.

BARRY MANILOW, SINGER: I did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You did?

MANILOW: I did. I like him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you still like him?

MANILOW: I like what he says. I do. I like what he says. I think he's -- he's solid. I agree with just about everything he says. What can I tell you?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

There is no truth to the rumor that Ron Paul will update the song "Copacabana" during the next debate. That is false. Barry Manilow is a patriot for participating in the electoral process.

— You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Pinheads & Patriots" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com.