Thursday, July 30, 2009

Wanted: A New Version Of Change

I think Barack Obama is hoping for a new version of change, because the old one appears to be running out of gas quickly:

Latest from Rasmussen: he's not only merely dead, he's really most sincerely dead.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 28% of the nation's voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty percent (40%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -12. That's the lowest rating yet recorded for President Obama (see trends).

He's losing liberals out of the "Strongly Approve" group. They thought they had a mandate and majorities in the House and Senate. Oh wait, they kinda did. It's just that Obama is such a bumbler they haven't been able to make anything out of it.

Card-check? Checked out.
Cap-and-tax? Stalled.
Healthcare? Stalled.
DADT & DOMA? Still the law of the land.
Guantanamo Bay? Still open for business.

For the Left, "Obama" is synonymous with "failure." And for the Right, his name is synonymous with "socialist." That's not a recipe for electoral success.

Remember, the President will never again have the support, the opportunity that he had during these six months past. This was his chance. He blew it. When he realises it, he's going to recalibrate his goals and his message. We've got to be ready for him.

Though Rasmussen is generally (in my opinion, and according to the 2008 election results) the most accurate, he's not the only one:

He's down to 52/41 in Gallup and dropping like a stone over the past 10 days thanks to Gatesgate and his health-care clusterfark, and in Rasmussen he's already below the line at 48/51. And that 48 isn't real hard, either:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 28% of the nation's voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty percent (40%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -12. That's the lowest rating yet recorded for President Obama.

But it doesn't even stop there:

Two numbers jumping out at me in the newest polls. 1) Obama's approval rating on the economy is down to 38% in this Pew survey; 2) and in the WSJ poll, only 48% say Obama can be trusted to keep his word. That's amazing, and shows he's paying a price for governing so differently than he campaigned and for his literally incredible claims on the stimulus and health care. I was looking around for ideas for a prediction to make on the McLaughlin Group last weekend and a friend on the Hill suggested: "Obama will be at 50% by September." At this rate, he could be at 50% (or below—see Rasmussen) by the end of next week.

Bad news, indeed (for him, that is...for America, it's GREAT news!).  Want some historical perspective?  Here you go:

Barack Obama's pubic approval rating has fallen faster than presidents from George W. Bush to Jimmy Carter, based on a RealClearPolitics review of historical Gallup polling.

Until Obama, Carter was the last president to begin his term in the high 60s. Carter first polled at a 66 percent approval rating. He did not reach Obama's present territory until mid September, when he hit 54 percent.  Carter fell lower in late October--51 percent. And that fall occurred after the Carter administration was branded with scandal, following the Bert Lance affair.

Gallup reports today that Obama has a 52 percent public approval rating, a new low. Yesterday's three-day Gallup average was 53. The day before, 54. Feels like a slow bleed is underway. Obama may recover. Presidents do. But these are bad numbers by historical standards.

Obama began his presidency at 68. He hit 69 the following day. That means he's dropped 16 points since day one.

So in less time than Carter, Obama has fallen more.

Both W. Bush and Bill Clinton reached the low 50s sooner than Obama. W. Bush hit 53 in March; Clinton hit 51 within a month of his inauguration. But W. Bush and Clinton began their presidencies with approval ratings about 10 points lower than Obama. And indeed, Obama has therefore fallen faster than W. Bush as well.

Here are some conclusions from RCP:

In other words, Obama's got problems. Health care has come up against the rocks and the cop and prof race debacle has also likely taken some toll. Then there is the unemployment rate, almost assured to soon reach double digits.

In the end, approval rating also concerns symbolism. Once a president falls below 50 percent he can no longer say he has the majority of the public behind him--a knockdown blow for a president's legislative ambitions.

All I can say to that is: THANK GOD!!!

Obama's radical Leftist policies are getting him into trouble on two fronts.  For those on the Right, he's proven to be far too liberal, and many people who gave him the benefit of the doubt (and their vote) are now regretting it, especially from moderates and Independents.  But, as the pushback is mounting on the Right and in the middle, Obama's also having more trouble with his far Left base because he's becoming less and less effective and messiah-like.  As AoS mentions above, most of his signature issues have been failures or at least stalled out; the wackos finally have their shot at re-making the country the way they want it, and they're distinctly unhappy about the process bogging down so much.

Make no mistake - Obama has already done immense damage to the country, and if it all came to a halt right now we'd have an incredibly difficult time pulling out of this mess.  The longer Obama continues pushing his agenda forward, the more difficult that recovery will be, and at some point it will become impossible to restore the America of freedom and prosperity that we have known for the past 200+ years.  Where is that point?  I don't think anyone can know that for certain until we look back in the mirror.  That's why these dropping poll numbers are so important - we have to act NOW, to stop this radical Leftist agenda NOW, and to prevent as much of it as possible from becoming entrenched.  The sooner that happens, the less pain we as a nation are going to suffer.

There's my two cents.

No comments: