Allegory for Jimmy Carterism

No, not really, unless this film was saying that Carterism represented a betrayal of 60's style activism. If you'll recall, it was either Sutherland or one of the other actors who said in the film "All our old friends (from the 60's, presumably) have BECOME REPBULCIANS". The choice of San Francisco as the setting is no accident, either, as it was a focal point of the 60's counter-culture movement. Metaphorically, everyone in SF went to sleep and awoke as a Republican replacement. You may not agree with the film's politics, but I think this was it's intent. Remember, Carter was a Southern Baptist Democrat, much more conservative than what we would consider liberal Democrat today, and certainly much less radical than say, McGovern was in the 1972 election. Recall, also, that Carter was so unpopular among the ultra-liberal base that Ted Kennedy mounted a very serious primary challenge to him in the 1980 Democratic primaries. Needless to say, Kennedy did not win the primary and Carter was not re-elected in 1980. The Conservative backlash against 60's-70's style liberal activism fully came to a head with the election of Reagan in 1980. The next Democrat to become president was Bill Clinton, another Southerner from Arkansas, won in 1992 and 1996. Even more so (and more successfully) than Carter, Clinton co-opted many Republican positions, especially after the mid-term "Contract with America" wave of Republicans in Congress forced his hand.