I wasn't around in 1980 and can't speak to the similarity between the two races, but I can assure you that this comparison is based solely on wishful thinking, rather than a careful analysis of the facts of both elections.
I was. Jimmy Carter had barely been elected in part because of his 'good-ol'-boy image in the South. He supposedly represented the New South by bringing together blacks and working-class white Southerners. Without the South he would have been defeated like Dukakis would in fact in be defeated in 1988. In 1976 Carter won several states (Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina) that have not since gone for any Democratic nominee.
Carter was apparently a good and innovative Governor of Georgia... but he failed at bringing Atlanta was to Washington, DC. He failed to have much of a legislative agenda passed even with a friendly House and Senate. Then of course came the Iranian hostage situation that dragged on and on. When it came time to run for re-election, Carter basically ran from his record and made new promises. That is one way to lose. Reagan won with a promise of a tough foreign policy and anti-inflationary measures.
President Obama is vastly different. He may have not rattled any sabers, but he has gotten the results that a saber-rattling leader dreams of. He put a swift end to the most dangerous economic meltdown in nearly 80 years. He got much legislation passed in two years -- some of it major reforms. He promises more of the same, but with a catch -- Americans will have to vote out the R majority in the House and keep a D majority in the Senate.
This election is more analogous to the election of 1984 with a successful incumbent who had some clear but often-controversial achievements and who promised more of the same against a nominee who promises to turn back the calendar. No, I don't see any possibility of a 49-state (or even 39-state) electoral blowout. President Obama would have to graft onto his 2008 winning coalition the sorts of people who voted for Carter but since then voted for no Democratic nominee except perhaps Clinton, and I see no sign of that happening.
