I think this post is representative of why the President’s approval ratings are not higher as there are many liberals who feel he is not doing enough and/or not standing up strongly enough to the opposing party. As a liberal independent I am not satisfied with his performance especially in regards to the manufactured debt ceiling crisis and renewal of the Bush tax cuts. I may not vote for him in 2012 as a symbolic gesture of disapproval since I know that he will not carry my state regardless of my vote.
I think it is more accurate to say 30% are going to vote for Obama no matter what and 30% are not going to vote for him. The 30% who will vote for him don’t all approve of his performance so I think that in some way explains why Obama has an approval rating around 40% but still matches up well against likely Republican candidates in polls.
By the way, if Harry Reid saying “It’s very clear that private-sector jobs have been doing just fine” is an example of the “messaging” Democrats plan on doing to boost Obama’s chances, they need a new team of spin doctors, badly.
If I was a GOP strategist I’d be gleefully collecting video/audio of Reid’s comment to use in future campaign spots. “See, not only are Democrats clueless about how to fix the economy, they don’t even recognize there’s a desperate need for jobs, except that they’re willing to spend billions more of your tax money to hire unionized public workers who’ll contribute to their political campaigns.”
Hopefully Reid is kicking himself for giving them that opening.
“simple farmers” know much more about a lot of things than the average city bred idiot who thinks knowing which club is ‘trendy’ this week is an important life skill.
The moron factor has nothing to do with where you live.
As of the end of the year they will not be. The Iraq government and Obama have agreed to abide by the plan that has been in place to remove troops. This plan has been in place for quite some time. I guess you were unaware of it. Or just were ignoring it.
Yeah, I was about to send off a blistering rebuttal to that statement as well. On reflection however, I think the poster was being just a trifle facetious.
So let’s give Mr. Shmenge the benefit of doubt…not funny, just silly and inappropriate.
On the other hand, Stan Shmenge, if that was intended to be a serious and meaningful comment,; You’re Despicable!
/me slides a box over to Richard Parker. "Take a look inside. It contains rocks. It is about as smart as your average undecided moderate voter. There are probably a small percentage who are actually politically moderate because they have considered the issues and don’t believe in voting for a candidate along party lines. But the vast majority are undecided because they are unthinking. These are the ones that Karl Rove and whoever is on the Dem side struggle to persuade. That is why Fox News gets away with repeatedly lying and misrepresenting the facts. Thinking hard hurts the poor little dears, and who can blame them, having to force solid granite to engage in neural activity? Even the brain-dead commenters on Youtube are ahead of them. If you are trying to understand wildly irrational beliefs among voters, think of that box of rocks.
Obama was elected with a good deal of support from independents. Nowadays, not so much.
It is not uncommon for a President with domestic problems to turn to foreign policy as a source of things to which to point proudly. It doesn’t always work - see Bush Sr. and his winning of Desert Storm for an example - but sometimes a President will have a go. Clinton, for example, bombed Iraq as a way to try to delay or distract from his impeachment.
Obama has achieved some things, or at least they happened on his watch - killing Osama, the departure of Khaddafi from this mortal coil. But what people want fixed is the economy. They passed his stimulus package, and unemployment remains painfully high, higher than he said it would be without the stimulus. Now Obama wants more of the same. They passed Obamacare, and health care costs continue to rise, and the Medicare cuts needed to divert funds from Medicare towards the uninsured have not been passed yet. Come November, the committee is going to come out with the recommendations on spending cuts that Obama and the Dems agreed to - this will be painful. Obama can either preside over the cuts, and be blamed for them, or fight them and break his promise. I suspect he will try for smoke-and-mirrors in some form. Whether it will work or not in terms of his re-election, I don’t know. I hope not, but it remains to be seen.
I will remark in passing that I sincerely hope the Democrats use Evil Captor’s strategy of characterizing the moderates and independents of the USA as stupid. That’s bound to bring them flocking back to the Obama banner.
In regards to Shodan’s post - I still maintain that a 30% approval rating among independents will not necessarily translate into 70% of independents voting for the Republican nominee or staying home. Some of that 70% is unhappy because he is not working hard enough against the opposition party so when it comes voting time that 30% approval will translate into a much higher voting percentage.
AND the partisan ones spouting their mantra of choice without examining all sides of every issue, and choosing based on party not ideas, are a “box full of masculine bovine excrement”? OK, I’ll buy that.
The simple fact of the matter is that to Conservatives he is a raging Liberal and to Liberals he is too Conservative. That is what happens when you try to play nice with a opposition who has no intention of working with you and ignore the base who support you. Beyond that, the specific things that individuals don’t like are just details.
I liked Obama. I voted for Obama. Heck, I even canvassed for Obama in 2008.
To be frank, I blame myself. I let myself fall for the rhetoric. I let myself be swayed by the soaring oratory. And yes, I wanted to believe the promises. No, I never thought he was the greatest thing since wheat toast or that he walked on water, but I allowed myself to become convinced that the impact of the previous administration’s despicable acts would begin to be reversed with his inauguration.
The explosive growth of the Tea Party was to be expected. A black man was about to become president of the United States. Where else were indignant racists going to go? I’d have been more surprised if it didn’t happen. What I didn’t expect was for Obama to prostrate himself before their proxies in the House and Senate, and all but beg to be stomped and spat on.
Obama’s ‘adult in the room’ garbage has gone on far too long and hasn’t yielded any fruit. Conservatives and Republicans are never, ever going to work with him, no matter how conciliatory nor, apparently, concessionary he is. Why it is taking him so long to realize this is a conundrum to me.
I blame Obama for not even considering proposing single-payer healthcare, and subsequently abandoning the public option compromise when his kitchen got a little hot, resulting in the watered-down swill cobbled together from elements of Romney’s plan that was passed off as healthcare reform, but what was really a gift to the insurance companies.
I blame Obama for not punishing those in the financial sector who pushed the economy off a cliff.
I blame Obama for caving on the Bush tax cuts extension.
I blame Obama for caving to Republican criticisms of the stimulus, reducing the amount and thereby its impact to help jump-start the economy.
I blame Obama for the current quagmire in Afghanistan.
I blame Obama for his silence on the continuance of US involvement in extraordinary renditions and illegal prisons, for reneging on his promise to close Guantanamo Bay (regardless of opposition), for his lame response to DADT, its repeal notwithstanding, and for his equivocations on matters of immigration.
Mostly, however, I blame Obama for his unwillingness to fight for even that which he knows is right. If I hear him say the word “bipartisan” again while acquiescing to yet piece of idiotic legislation, the benefits of which redound solely to Conservatives, I think I may rip out my radio and throw it out the car window.
I suspect Obama will have a second term as president, albeit through no great feat of his own. I’ll vote for him again, although at this point I consider it not so much voting for him as voting against the crazy, and I’ll take disappointing over crazy any day.
I made it clear in my post that I was not accusing ALL moderates and undecideds of being like that. But the polling data indicates that the bulk are. They make up their minds, like, five minutes before they actually vote. And not because they are workng out the policy details at the last minute. They DON’T KNOW why they vote much of the time. So … straw man, baby!
Note, if you spend 5 minutes listening to the average parrot, err partisan, you’ll quickly figure out waaaay too many are unthinking bloviates and exactly as described.
Not saying Obamas bad, just can’t really trust anyone now after all thats happened. I don’t trust any of them, and avoid a 2nd recession? Where have you been? Its too late for that, the boats rockin, but hasn’t tipped yet. It will and things here are gonna get a lot worse. I don’t know where any of you guys live, but here where I am you can tell it’s bad. There was already nothing here before, but now its just sad. I have people stealing old metal from my woods, metal that has been out there for over 30 years. We don’t say nothing because if they are that desperate they need it more than we do. People can’t afford to buy food, a bag of chips here cost ya almost $5. I’m telling ya we ain’t seen nothing yet. That’s why we are setting up our own means for food, and becoming less reliant on the government. You wanna know what Americas problem is? It’s not just Obama, it’s every money sucking politician up there. They let money, power and greed get to their heads. And they got you all by the balls. Oh no an earth quake!!! gas prices go up. Oh no a little hurricane!!! hits the East gas prices go up. Its all a bunch of bull shit. You think any of them really give a shit about any of us? Be honest now do you really care whats gonna happen to a stranger? Some people have good hearts, but the majority don’t Everyone there is out for themselves.
