Cartoon: By Gary Varvell.
After the 2010 election, the question was asked, “Can Obama pull off the same recovery Clinton did when he lost control of Congress?” This ghost of Presidencies past was probably haunting the Republican Party during the latest row on raising the debt ceiling. It may have been a factor in the apparent paralysis that gripped establishment Republicans during the negotiations.
Charts; From Rasmussen Reports.
The answer appears to be a resounding NO. Congress has not come out of it in good shape, in fact a large proportion of the population is inclined to vote the lot out and start again after an agreement that nobody is happy with. The president has been weakened further; with his approval rating dropping to it’s lowest ever.
The economy and associated unemployment is the main issue, but there are numerous other reasons why the American people are upset to the point where we are probably looking at the death throws of a one term Presidency. The latest polls have him at his lowest approval levels ever. There have been a growing number of reports that he is losing support of blacks, Hispanics, as well as conservative Democrats.
The influence of the Tea Party is going to be a major factor in the next election, perhaps to a greater extent than in the last.
These people are smelling blood in the water and are determined to make major changes.
They have learned from past mistakes and will be a force to be reasoned with.
Obama won the top spot with promises, which included a commitment to end the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, neither of which have been carried out. In addition to this, a half arsed action in Libya with no real goal in mind has been added to the list. This has the potential to really end in tears if as predicted the radical Muslim Brotherhood, which is openly hostile to the US comes to power as a result.
There is a strong probability that a major scandal will result from Operation Gunrunner, in which illegal sales of firearms were allowed to Mexican drug cartels. The aim was to track the movements of these weapons, the reality was that they lost track of thousands of them. At least one border control agent has been murdered with one of these weapons. The investigation of this appears to be showing a trail of cover-ups, which go to the very highest levels.
And lastly, and very importantly, the media are growing a little tired of making the effort of finding excuses for him. It is even reported that Chris Mathews is loosing that tingle up his leg. This may help Chris to get an uninterrupted nights sleep, but it is a real bummer for the Administration.
And yet I can still find people who'll tell you what a wonderful job he's been doing. Was chatting to one over the weekend, in fact. Still admired him for saying the right things - it's all about 'the dialogue', apparently - and why was I so keen to give the guy a hard time. I said I wasn't particularly, having begun with low expectations and found that the Obamessiah had pretty much lived down to them. 'Change we can believe in' = similarity, in other words. But I couldn't understand why she and other admirers of The One are not bitterly disappointed that he's delivered on so little, especially when they probably wouldn't let an ALP leader get away with talking the talk and not walking the walk.
ReplyDeleteMany people don't stop and think too deeply once they have formed an opinion. During the election most opinions were drowned out by those shouting about "Historic, first black President" etc. Once this started there was no taking a few deep breaths and thinking about it, they had to do it.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that some people never learn. Yesterday I was seeing stuff about Bachmann winning the straw poll and comments about how it would be historic to elect the "first female President." If Bachmann is good enough to win, kudos to her, but she needs to do so on ability not novelty.
The people talking this nonsense need to remind themselves of the last bit of historic Presidency, and ask themselves, "Hows that working out for us?"