Robert Gibbs, Barack Obama’s chief spokesman, got into hot water this week for daring to speak the truth – that the Democrats could lose control of the House of Representatives in November. But it could be even worse than that.
Contrary to pretty much every projection until now, Democratic control of the Senate is also starting to coming into question. While Mr Obama’s approval ratings have continued to fall, and now hover at dangerously close to 40 per cent according an ABC-Washington Post poll published on Tuesday, the fate of his former colleagues in the Senate looks even worse.
In the past few days polls have shown Republican challengers taking the lead over previously safe Democratic incumbents, such as Barbara Boxer in California and Russ Feingold in Wisconsin. Indeed, given the uniformly negative direction in the numbers, it is now quite possible the Republicans could win the Senate seats formerly held by both President Obama in Illinois, and Joe Biden, vice-president, in Delaware.
Add to that the continuing woes of Harry Reid, the Senate Democratic majority leader, in Nevada, where the Republican party’s recent nomination of Sharron Angle, a far-right and highly eccentric Tea Party supporter, appear to have had no positive effect on Mr Reid’s prospects, and the Grand Old party has a good shot at taking control of both houses of Congress. Worse for Mr Obama, political scientists say that at this stage in the calendar, there is almost nothing he can do about it.
“If you ask me where the silver lining is for President Obama, I have to say I cannot see one,” says Bill Galston, a former Clinton official, who has been predicting for months the Democrats could lose the House. “Just as BP’s failure to cap the well has been so damaging, Obama’s failure to cap unemployment will be his undoing. There is nothing he can do to affect the jobless rate before November.”
The direction of the data could hardly be worse. According to Democracy Corps, a group headed by Stanley Greenberg, a liberal pollster who is a close friend of Rahm Emanuel, Mr Obama’s chief of staff, a majority of US citizens see Mr Obama as “too liberal”.
Astonishingly, 55 per cent of citizens think Mr Obama is a “socialist” against only 39 per cent who do not share that diagnosis. The same poll shows 48 per cent support for Republicans against just 42 per cent for Democrats. The numbers are eerily similar to 2006, except that it was George W. Bush’s Republicans who were on the receiving end four years ago.
“The bottom line here is that Americans don’t believe in President Obama’s leadership,” says Rob Shapiro, another former Clinton official and a supporter of Mr Obama. “He has to find some way between now and November of demonstrating that he is a leader who can command confidence and, short of a 9/11 event or an Oklahoma City bombing, I can’t think of how he could do that.”
In private, informal advisors to Mr Obama are almost as negative. According to one, the US public’s loss of confidence in Mr Obama’s leadership is a factor above and beyond their dissatisfaction over the state of the real economy, which continues to slow as last year’s $787bn stimulus starts to run dry. The adviser, who asked to remain anonymous, said the public did not know what Mr Obama really believed. Examples include his lukewarm support last year for a public option in the healthcare bill and his equally lukewarm support today for a Senate bill that would extend unemployment insurance and aid state governments to keep teachers in their jobs.
In both cases, Mr Obama has offered only token, negotiable, support. “I never thought I would say this, but even I’m unsure what President Obama really believes,” says the adviser. “Instead of outsourcing decisions to Congress, he should spell out his bottom line. That is what leaders are for.”
Next week, Mr Obama is likely to sign a historic Wall Street re-regulation bill into law. Earlier this year he did the same for healthcare. But polls show the public either does not care, or even opposes these otherwise big reforms. “The longer this goes on, the more it looks like Obama wasted his first year on healthcare,” said the outside adviser. “It’s still the economy, stupid.”
(Source: Financial Times)
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12 Responses
Look, let’s face it. Obama is a smooth-talking con man. He fooled everyone into thinking that he was a clean-cut all American young black who had succeeded through hard work and intelligence, and everyone wanted to give him a break.
Now, we have all discovered that his intelligence is nothing more than book-learning and teleprompter-reading. There is no practical experience to speak of–he is simply incompetent.
Moreover, he has absorbed lunatic, idiotic ideas from his communist and racist mentors, and he wants to try out these crazy ideas on us.
Understandedly, most businesses and banks are freezing their activities until they see where this madman is going to take this country.
“short of a 9/11 event or an Oklahoma City bombing, I can’t think of how he could do that.”
Don’t give him any ideas.
Jackie Mason points out a hilarious irony. The only job in the whole country that you don’t need any qualification whatsoever to qualify is the presidency! You legaly do not need to have gone through the school system to qualify! All you ned to show is that your 35 years old. Even to become a barber you need to pass a state test to qualify. In this country they protect you from a bad haircut! But if you fail that test, they ask you – wanna be a president? – it’s up to you!
obama is a smart controlling man. He wants TOTAL control of the country under his wing and give it to some kind of communist un organization. It start with Woodrow Wilson but people get smart; and he continued during FDR and people got smart [past the amendment to a 2 term limit] and obama is trying in 1 term to take us down the road. He does thinks by control like appointment and czars and congress has no control. He had senate and house control and they are getting frighten only because they are going to loose their seat [Let daven so] and their cash cow.
He is not a socialist he is a communist look what is around him they are communist, bill ayers, van jones, villarie jerritt,
Liberals are stupid.
I’m confused. Are liberals stupid, or are they elitist intellectuals? Is Obama inexperienced and incompetent, or is he part of the most complicated conspiracy in American history, surreptitiously leading us into a Communist totalitarian state?
Your sister not stupid just crooked. Liberals know how to better spend your money then you. Check on liberal contributions to tzadduch and check conservative
It is like 1 to 4
check on how much Joe Biden gave last year for a Laugh
and check howm much con man Gore gave last year for a bigger laugh
some_jew, liberals are stupid because they think they can still fool Jews into voting for them eventhough their agenda is against Jewish law and philosophy. Though you may not have enough intellectual capacity to comprehend that.
YITZCHOKY, you accuse Obama of doing “thinks by control like appointment and czars and congress has no control.” I’m sure you are aware that every president in the history of this country has made appointments to executive agencies that, once approved by Congress, have to answer only to the President. Are you criticizing Obama for exercising his Constitutional duty, as is outlined in Article II, Section 2.2 of said document?
OK lets get this clear BARAK HUSSEIN OBAMA is out there to kill this country, just like all the other leftist radical horrors!
The astonishing part of the headline is “55 Percent Think”. Had that been the case in November 2008, we might not be in this predicament.
Good point 11 but it also depends how you define the term socialist. If France is considered a socialist country Obama is a dye wooled socialist. If you consider France a social democracy and ditto Obama.