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10 Reasons Obama is a One-Term Presidentby Daniel J. Flynn
06/20/2011 Less than two months ago, buzzing from the president’s gutsy call to eliminate Osama bin Laden, liberal pontificators had practically sworn in Barack Obama for his second term. “For the GOP the sands are rushing through the hourglass,” Roger Simon wrote in a column whose title had wondered whether the president was “invincible.” He claimed that with Geronimo KIA, “the Republican field has been fried like an egg.” In reality, the president’s short-term popularity boost had fried the long-term judgment of his supporters.
The reasons to believe Obama a one-term president are many and well-grounded.
10. The Declaration of Independents
Candidate Obama attracted independents. President Obama repulses them. The president entered office with the approval of 62 percent of independents. The latest Gallup poll shows support of just 42 percent of independents. Similarly, the political moderates key to his election have deserted the president as immoderate policies have emerged. There simply aren’t enough liberals for Democrats to lose moderates and win elections. No Democratic candidate over the last half century has won the presidency without winning moderates.
9. A Redder America
Barack Obama faces a redder electoral map than he did in 2008. The 2012 presidential election is more than a year away, but the Electoral College has already shifted twelve votes away from blue states and toward red states. Most of the states gaining electoral votes in the census reapportionment voted for McCain. Almost all of the states losing electoral votes voted for Obama. Even the states that Obama carried that added electoral votes—Nevada and Florida, to name two—don’t seem locks to go for the president in 2012. The loss of electoral votes isn’t fatal to Obama. It is a handicap.
8. The Issues Have Changed
Gallup’s “Monthly Most Important Problem” survey is a problem for the president. What is troubling the American people? Over the first five months of 2011, Americans point to the economy (29%), unemployment (26%), the deficit (13%), and government (11%). The issues most salient to voters uniformly work to the incumbent’s disadvantage. When Iraq, health care, and Republican mishandling of the economy mattered to voters, Obama could go on the offensive. It’s difficult to see how he scores points in 2012 on the issues that resonate with voters. He will be on his heels.
7. The Blank Canvass Isn’t Anymore
Other than William Jennings Bryan and Wendell Willkie, who is the major party nominee with a skimpier record than 2008’s Barack Obama? He could vote “present” in the Illinois legislature and run away from U.S. Senate votes while running for higher office. But presidents can’t remain blank slates for long. Unpopular ObamaCare, a sedative stimulus, ineptness in the face of the BP oil spill, and defiance of Congress in starting a third Middle Eastern war have all painted a presidential picture that has calcified conservative opposition, alienated moderates, and disillusioned liberal supporters.
6. Demoralized Liberals
Left-wing activist Ralph Nader encourages a primary challenge. Ohio Democrat Dennis Kucinich sues the administration over Libya. Netroots conference goers boo White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer. Rather than rejoice at a universal health-care bill that eluded predecessors or the introduction of open homosexuality in the military, liberals decry Obama for retaining Bush-era tax rates, playing warden over Guantanamo Bay, and launching a new war in Libya. Never can Democrats satiate their cannibalistic base. If you think this is an overstatement, feel free to examine the teeth marks on the political carcasses of Al Gore, Jimmy Carter, and Lyndon Johnson. Leftists may not primary this president or siphon votes through a suicidal third-party bid. But neither will they work or give at the levels they did in 2008.
5. Energized Conservatives
After eight years of big-government Bush, an underwhelming primary field, and a sclerotic general election campaign, conservatives could be given a mulligan for sleepwalking through the last presidential election. Conservatives, just 34 percent of the electorate in 2008’s election, comprised 42 percent of voters in 2010. From tea-parties to raucous town halls, the political dynamic of the country has been altered. It showed in 2010, when Republicans added 63 House seats, seven Senate seats, and six governors. Nothing invigorates a party’s base like an aggressive ideologue of the opposing party occupying the White House. The GOP clearly has the momentum heading into 2012.
4. The Political Ground Has Shifted Beneath the President’s Feet
A political lifetime has elapsed since Barack Obama’s election. Bailouts and big-government have yielded to tea parties and deficit angst. Gallup’s ideological identification survey registered the highest percentage of liberals in its history the year of Barack Obama’s election. Gallup’s most recent ideological identification survey registered its highest percentage of conservatives since the inaugural 1992 poll. Between the 2008 survey and last year’s, conservatives have gained seven points vis-à-vis liberals. To know liberalism isn’t to love it.
3. Historic Turnouts Aren’t Every-Four-Year Occurrences
Obama surfed to victory in 2008 on the crest of two historic waves. African Americans constituted a larger percentage of the electorate than ever recorded. And young people voted for the Democratic candidate by the greatest margin ever. Two-thirds of 18-to-29 year olds cast ballots for Obama. A staggering 19 out of every 20 African American voters pulled the lever for Obama. The precarious foundation of the Democrat’s election rested on the remarkable turnout, and the amazing one-sidedness, of two constituencies—African Americans and young people—who traditionally stay home on Election Day. That both groups have been hit especially hard by the economic slump makes it hard to envision a repeat of the amazing African American turnout and one-sided youth vote.
2. A Low Ceiling
Roger Simon wondered if the president was “invincible” in the wake of killing bin Laden. More perceptive observers saw vulnerability. Counterintuitively, the assassination of America’s most reviled enemy revealed Barack Obama’s political weaknesses, not his strengths. The president’s weekly Gallup approval average topped out at 51 percent following the bin Laden operation. The best possible week of Obama’s presidency yielded barely half of the electorate’s support. His enemies should acknowledge the man has a floor of support. His supporters should acknowledge he has a ceiling, too.
1. It’s Still the Economy, Stupid
The Misery Index, popularized by Governor Carter to hound President Ford only to be President Carter’s undoing, haunts Democrats again. The combined unemployment and inflation rates are at their worst level in twenty-eight years. The stock market has just spent six weeks in the red. The GDP grows at an anemic rate of 1.8 percent. The housing market has been in shambles for five years, and seems to be double dipping. Debt approaches GDP. Flat-lining and nose-diving trend lines make the president’s reelection precarious. Even a browbeaten Bill Daley, the president’s chief of staff, conceded to an incensed National Association of Manufacturers convention, “Sometimes you can’t defend the indefensible.” He said it.
Barack Obama is a formidable campaigner. His presidency is not without accomplishment (see, Osama bin Laden). And occupants of the White House have lost general elections just five times in the last hundred years. But he has governed ineffectively and stubbornly against the wishes of the American people. He could win reelection. But the preponderance of indicators suggests his defeat. This should make conservatives hopeful for change.
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Daniel J. Flynn is a columnist for HUMAN EVENTS and the author of numerous books, including A Conservative History of the American Left (Crown Forum, 2008), Intellectual Morons (Crown Forum, 2004), and Why the Left Hates America (Prima Forum, 2002).
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7. The Blank Canvass Isn’t Anymore
Other than William Jennings Bryan and Wendell Willkie, who is the major party nominee with a skimpier record than 2008’s Barack Obama? He could vote “present” in the Illinois legislature and run away from U.S. Senate votes while running for higher office. But presidents can’t remain blank slates for long. Unpopular ObamaCare, a sedative stimulus, ineptness in the face of the BP oil spill, and defiance of Congress in starting a third Middle Eastern war have all painted a presidential picture that has calcified conservative opposition, alienated moderates, and disillusioned liberal supporters.
________________________ ________________________
Bingo - this communist sleeper cell now has a disastrous record of failure, intentional sabatoge, and misery.
Only the 95ers and govt employee unions still approve of this catastrophe.
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10. The Declaration of Independents
Candidate Obama attracted independents. President Obama repulses them. The president entered office with the approval of 62 percent of independents. The latest Gallup poll shows support of just 42 percent of independents. Similarly, the political moderates key to his election have deserted the president as immoderate policies have emerged. There simply aren’t enough liberals for Democrats to lose moderates and win elections. No Democratic candidate over the last half century has won the presidency without winning moderates.
I think this and the loss of crossover Republicans are the biggest reasons he will probably lose in 2012.
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and Hawaii will still be a blue state....
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and Hawaii will still be a blue state....
Yep. No surprise there.
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10 Reasons Obama is a One-Term Presidentby Daniel J. Flynn
06/20/2011 Less than two months ago, buzzing from the president’s gutsy call to eliminate Osama bin Laden, liberal pontificators had practically sworn in Barack Obama for his second term. “For the GOP the sands are rushing through the hourglass,” Roger Simon wrote in a column whose title had wondered whether the president was “invincible.” He claimed that with Geronimo KIA, “the Republican field has been fried like an egg.” In reality, the president’s short-term popularity boost had fried the long-term judgment of his supporters.
The reasons to believe Obama a one-term president are many and well-grounded.
10. The Declaration of Independents
Candidate Obama attracted independents. President Obama repulses them. The president entered office with the approval of 62 percent of independents. The latest Gallup poll shows support of just 42 percent of independents. Similarly, the political moderates key to his election have deserted the president as immoderate policies have emerged. There simply aren’t enough liberals for Democrats to lose moderates and win elections. No Democratic candidate over the last half century has won the presidency without winning moderates.
9. A Redder America
Barack Obama faces a redder electoral map than he did in 2008. The 2012 presidential election is more than a year away, but the Electoral College has already shifted twelve votes away from blue states and toward red states. Most of the states gaining electoral votes in the census reapportionment voted for McCain. Almost all of the states losing electoral votes voted for Obama. Even the states that Obama carried that added electoral votes—Nevada and Florida, to name two—don’t seem locks to go for the president in 2012. The loss of electoral votes isn’t fatal to Obama. It is a handicap.
8. The Issues Have Changed
Gallup’s “Monthly Most Important Problem” survey is a problem for the president. What is troubling the American people? Over the first five months of 2011, Americans point to the economy (29%), unemployment (26%), the deficit (13%), and government (11%). The issues most salient to voters uniformly work to the incumbent’s disadvantage. When Iraq, health care, and Republican mishandling of the economy mattered to voters, Obama could go on the offensive. It’s difficult to see how he scores points in 2012 on the issues that resonate with voters. He will be on his heels.
7. The Blank Canvass Isn’t Anymore
Other than William Jennings Bryan and Wendell Willkie, who is the major party nominee with a skimpier record than 2008’s Barack Obama? He could vote “present” in the Illinois legislature and run away from U.S. Senate votes while running for higher office. But presidents can’t remain blank slates for long. Unpopular ObamaCare, a sedative stimulus, ineptness in the face of the BP oil spill, and defiance of Congress in starting a third Middle Eastern war have all painted a presidential picture that has calcified conservative opposition, alienated moderates, and disillusioned liberal supporters.
6. Demoralized Liberals
Left-wing activist Ralph Nader encourages a primary challenge. Ohio Democrat Dennis Kucinich sues the administration over Libya. Netroots conference goers boo White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer. Rather than rejoice at a universal health-care bill that eluded predecessors or the introduction of open homosexuality in the military, liberals decry Obama for retaining Bush-era tax rates, playing warden over Guantanamo Bay, and launching a new war in Libya. Never can Democrats satiate their cannibalistic base. If you think this is an overstatement, feel free to examine the teeth marks on the political carcasses of Al Gore, Jimmy Carter, and Lyndon Johnson. Leftists may not primary this president or siphon votes through a suicidal third-party bid. But neither will they work or give at the levels they did in 2008.
5. Energized Conservatives
After eight years of big-government Bush, an underwhelming primary field, and a sclerotic general election campaign, conservatives could be given a mulligan for sleepwalking through the last presidential election. Conservatives, just 34 percent of the electorate in 2008’s election, comprised 42 percent of voters in 2010. From tea-parties to raucous town halls, the political dynamic of the country has been altered. It showed in 2010, when Republicans added 63 House seats, seven Senate seats, and six governors. Nothing invigorates a party’s base like an aggressive ideologue of the opposing party occupying the White House. The GOP clearly has the momentum heading into 2012.
4. The Political Ground Has Shifted Beneath the President’s Feet
A political lifetime has elapsed since Barack Obama’s election. Bailouts and big-government have yielded to tea parties and deficit angst. Gallup’s ideological identification survey registered the highest percentage of liberals in its history the year of Barack Obama’s election. Gallup’s most recent ideological identification survey registered its highest percentage of conservatives since the inaugural 1992 poll. Between the 2008 survey and last year’s, conservatives have gained seven points vis-à-vis liberals. To know liberalism isn’t to love it.
3. Historic Turnouts Aren’t Every-Four-Year Occurrences
Obama surfed to victory in 2008 on the crest of two historic waves. African Americans constituted a larger percentage of the electorate than ever recorded. And young people voted for the Democratic candidate by the greatest margin ever. Two-thirds of 18-to-29 year olds cast ballots for Obama. A staggering 19 out of every 20 African American voters pulled the lever for Obama. The precarious foundation of the Democrat’s election rested on the remarkable turnout, and the amazing one-sidedness, of two constituencies—African Americans and young people—who traditionally stay home on Election Day. That both groups have been hit especially hard by the economic slump makes it hard to envision a repeat of the amazing African American turnout and one-sided youth vote.
2. A Low Ceiling
Roger Simon wondered if the president was “invincible” in the wake of killing bin Laden. More perceptive observers saw vulnerability. Counterintuitively, the assassination of America’s most reviled enemy revealed Barack Obama’s political weaknesses, not his strengths. The president’s weekly Gallup approval average topped out at 51 percent following the bin Laden operation. The best possible week of Obama’s presidency yielded barely half of the electorate’s support. His enemies should acknowledge the man has a floor of support. His supporters should acknowledge he has a ceiling, too.
1. It’s Still the Economy, Stupid
The Misery Index, popularized by Governor Carter to hound President Ford only to be President Carter’s undoing, haunts Democrats again. The combined unemployment and inflation rates are at their worst level in twenty-eight years. The stock market has just spent six weeks in the red. The GDP grows at an anemic rate of 1.8 percent. The housing market has been in shambles for five years, and seems to be double dipping. Debt approaches GDP. Flat-lining and nose-diving trend lines make the president’s reelection precarious. Even a browbeaten Bill Daley, the president’s chief of staff, conceded to an incensed National Association of Manufacturers convention, “Sometimes you can’t defend the indefensible.” He said it.
Barack Obama is a formidable campaigner. His presidency is not without accomplishment (see, Osama bin Laden). And occupants of the White House have lost general elections just five times in the last hundred years. But he has governed ineffectively and stubbornly against the wishes of the American people. He could win reelection. But the preponderance of indicators suggests his defeat. This should make conservatives hopeful for change.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Daniel J. Flynn is a columnist for HUMAN EVENTS and the author of numerous books, including A Conservative History of the American Left (Crown Forum, 2008), Intellectual Morons (Crown Forum, 2004), and Why the Left Hates America (Prima Forum, 2002).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Obama hasn't started campaigning yet. Republicans may be energized but for the wrong reasons unfortunately. There's still no strong contender in striking distance of beating Romney and quite frankly Romney can't beat Obama because he's not a Christian which will alienate the Republican base which is the Bible Belt.
Only Ron Paul or Rick Perry have an actual chance because they have are polar opposites. Herman Cain can't win because he's black, Michelle Bachman is a joke, and Tom Pal doesn't have any balls
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Obama hasn't started campaigning yet. Republicans may be energized but for the wrong reasons unfortunately. There's still no strong contender in striking distance of beating Romney and quite frankly Romney can't beat Obama because he's not a Christian which will alienate the Republican base which is the Bible Belt.
Only Ron Paul or Rick Perry have an actual chance because they have are polar opposites. Herman Cain can't win because he's black, Michelle Bachman is a joke, and Tom Pal doesn't have any balls
Im sorry, but Romney can definately beat him. The Mormon thing wont matter. Unfortunately, Romney is obviously not as conservative as Reagan, but he has Reaganeque qualities.
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Obama is so done its not funny. This article gives but a few of the reasons.
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Read some of David Limbaugh's most recent columns. He is acting like the GOP has already won!
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Im sorry, but Romney can definately beat him. The Mormon thing wont matter. Unfortunately, Romney is obviously not as conservative as Reagan, but he has Reaganeque qualities.
The majority of Red States are part of the Bible Belt. They will not vote for someone who is not a Christian. There's no way for Romney to get around it. Its not going to happen. The minute he's the contender, a 502 group will absolutely destroy him
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The majority of Red States are part of the Bible Belt. They will not vote for someone who is not a Christian. There's no way for Romney to get around it. Its not going to happen. The minute he's the contender, a 502 group will absolutely destroy him
You are so clueless its beyond help.
By next year, people will be racing to get fauxbama out of office, regardless who is running. You 95'ers are so beyond obvlivious to reality its not funny. I had the same arguments before the midterms wih many deluded libs who though the dems would actually pick up seats.
Obama is HATED and LOATHED by most of America. Of curse NY, IL, CA, MA and other far left states they love him, but overall, he has proen every bit the failure and disaster we said he would.
His base is crumbling by the day. hispanics are pissed off, gays are pissed off, anti war people are pissed off, the progressives are pissed off, the independents are llloooonnnggg gone. So who is left? The 95'ers, the govt employee unions, lgbt'ers, 50-55% hispanics, etc. That is not enough for him to win under any scenario.
He has made everything far worse by every objective measure, blew through 5 trillion dollars, started new wars, caused rampant inflation with his insane policies, and no longer has any credibility as he has proven himself one of the biggest liars to ever hold office.
And most importantly - unlike 2008 - he now has a record - and it sucks. Hope & Change will no longer work.
So tell me - what is he going to run on - "Hey - it could have been worse?"
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You are so clueless its beyond help.
By next year, people will be racing to get fauxbama out of office, regardless who is running. You 95'ers are so beyond obvlivious to reality its not funny. I had the same arguments before the midterms wih many deluded libs who though the dems would actually pick up seats.
Obama is HATED and LOATHED by most of America. Of curse NY, IL, CA, MA and other far left states they love him, but overall, he has proen every bit the failure and disaster we said he would.
His base is crumbling by the day. hispanics are pissed off, gays are pissed off, anti war people are pissed off, the progressives are pissed off, the independents are llloooonnnggg gone. So who is left? The 95'ers, the govt employee unions, lgbt'ers, 50-55% hispanics, etc. That is not enough for him to win under any scenario.
He has made everything far worse by every objective measure, blew through 5 trillion dollars, started new wars, caused rampant inflation with his insane policies, and no longer has any credibility as he has proven himself one of the biggest liars to ever hold office.
And most importantly - unlike 2008 - he now has a record - and it sucks. Hope & Change will no longer work.
So tell me - what is he going to run on - "Hey - it could have been worse?"
You should take some time to stop drinking the Kool-Aid and see politics for what they really are.
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Really?
Tell me - what is obama going to run on and tell me what he plans on doing with another term?
His record sucks and people are sick of his speeches. Shit - he sold only half the seats at $40 rally this month. doners are backing away in droves, he is forced to raffle off a dinner for $5, tweeting bs, etc.
He is gone, thankfully, as businesses simply willnot hire or expand so long as he is in office.
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Really?
Tell me - what is obama going to run on and tell me what he plans on doing with another term?
His record sucks and people are sick of his speeches. Shit - he sold only half the seats at $40 rally this month. doners are backing away in droves, he is forced to raffle off a dinner for $5, tweeting bs, etc.
He is gone, thankfully, as businesses simply willnot hire or expand so long as he is in office.
Obama doesn't run his campaign....his campaign managers do and they are not going to waste money and run ads and campaign until the GOP chooses its candidate. Then the fun starts... ;D
BTW, I don't know where you're getting your information from but you seriously need to look around a bit rather than read Fox News and listen to Glenn Beck all day. If you did, then you would realize that the battle hasn't even begun yet. Believe me, Obama will not have any trouble raising a billion dollars for his campaign. In fact, the money is already in the bank.
Only a fool like you believes in absolutes.
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Obama doesn't run his campaign....his campaign managers do and they are not going to waste money and run ads and campaign until the GOP chooses its candidate. Then the fun starts... ;D
BTW, I don't know where you're getting your information from but you seriously need to look around a bit rather than read Fox News and listen to Glenn Beck all day. If you did, then you would realize that the battle hasn't even begun yet. Believe me, Obama will not have any trouble raising a billion dollars for his campaign. In fact, the money is already in the bank.
Only a fool like you believes in absolutes.
Yeah ok, keep believing that. Can't wait till you benny, mal, andre, straw, blacken, and the others are sitting there in a puddle of tears onder by hopey changey is going home to chicago in 2013.
BTW - I havent listened to beck in well over a year and dont watch TV. FAIL
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Obama doesn't run his campaign....his campaign managers do and they are not going to waste money and run ads and campaign until the GOP chooses its candidate. Then the fun starts... ;D
BTW, I don't know where you're getting your information from but you seriously need to look around a bit rather than read Fox News and listen to Glenn Beck all day. If you did, then you would realize that the battle hasn't even begun yet. Believe me, Obama will not have any trouble raising a billion dollars for his campaign. In fact, the money is already in the bank.
Only a fool like you believes in absolutes.
Vince, rather than rattling of comments from a list of talking points and generalizations, could you please just answer the following question he asked? I'd like to see your views:
What is obama going to run on and tell me what he plans on doing with another term?
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Vince, rather than rattling of comments from a list of talking points and generalizations, could you please just answer the following question he asked? I'd like to see your views:
I'm more of a political strategist....I simply see what's happenning and I analyze it for my own person amusement.
My views are this. The only thing politicans do is give lip service, they are not servants of the people who elected them, they are servants to their own party and their own political interest. They all look down on us as nothing more than American. We're even human beings to these people...we're not even people...we're sheeple...and those like me who are smart enough to realize that American politics is a big con game are labeled radicals and unpatriotic despite the fact that I and others have served this country.
They don't care about the economy except their own.
Politics is all for money, power, and their own Narcissism. Obama, McCain, Palin, Romney, Weiner, Clinton...doesn't matter who you name, they are all classic cases of Narcissist.
I don't give a shit who get elected because no matter what, we're all going to lose anyway.
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I'm more of a political strategist....I simply see what's happenning and I analyze it for my own person amusement.
My views are this. The only thing politicans do is give lip service, they are not servants of the people who elected them, they are servants to their own party and their own political interest. They all look down on us as nothing more than American. We're even human beings to these people...we're not even people...we're sheeple...and those like me who are smart enough to realize that American politics is a big con game are labeled radicals and unpatriotic despite the fact that I and others have served this country.
They don't care about the economy except their own.
Politics is all for money, power, and their own Narcissism. Obama, McCain, Palin, Romney, Weiner, Clinton...doesn't matter who you name, they are all classic cases of Narcissist.
I don't give a shit who get elected because no matter what, we're all going to lose anyway.
Nice deflection.
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Nice deflection.
Its not a deflection....its the reality and scheme of things.
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Its not a deflection....its the reality and scheme of things.
You were asked a specific question.
what will obama run on and what does he plan on doing with a second term?
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You were asked a specific question.
what will obama run on and what does he plan on doing with a second term?
My name isn't Barack Obama, why would I know or care what he intends to run on??? But like any campaign, there will be some rallying point whether its shooting Bin Laden or whatever.
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My name isn't Barack Obama, why would I know or care what he intends to run on??? But like any campaign, there will be some rallying point whether its shooting Bin Laden or whatever.
Not obamacare, jobs, the economy, etc?
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Only a fool like you believes in absolutes.
???
Doesn't matter. Romney is the frontrunner and quite frankly he can't beat Obama. The Bible Belt will never elect a non Christian into office.
Only Rick Perry or Ron Paul have a chance. Michelle Bachman is an idiot, Herman Cain is inexperienced, and Tom Paw doesn't have the balls to stand on his words
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^^^^
HAHAHAHHAHAHA
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???
The Christian Coalition and GOP made Obama's religion such a big deal in 2008 that it would be highly unlikely that they would all of a sudden throw support behind someone who isn't a Christian..
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The Christian Coalition and GOP made Obama's religion such a big deal in 2008 that it would be highly unlikely that they would all of a sudden throw support behind someone who isn't a Christian..
Not exactly. I don't think the Christian Coalition is a major player in national elections, they are not the ones who highlighted Obama's professed faith in 2008. He did. Here is some info for you:
CANDIDATE OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE - JANUARY 15, 2008
OBAMA: Well, look, first of all, let's make clear what the facts are: I am a Christian. I have been sworn in with a Bible.
WILLIAMS: I figured.
OBAMA: I pledge allegiance and lead the pledge of allegiance sometimes in the United States Senate when I'm presiding.
CANDIDATE OBAMA CAMPAGIN EVENT - MARCH 26, 2008
My question is: What role does Jesus Christ play in your life? And how do his teachings and those of the Bible affect your decision- making in politics?
OBAMA: That's interesting. That's interesting. Well, look, it's a wonderful question. It's a complicated question, but it's a wonderful question.
I believe that Jesus Christ died for my sins and that his grace and his mercy and his power, through him, that I can achieve everlasting life. So that's what I believe.
Now, what I also believe in is a gospel of not just words, but deeds. And I believe in doing right here on Earth and treating people with the dignity and respect that is inherent in them being children of God, all people.
SENATOR OBAMA'S REMARKS ON RELIGION AND RESPONSIBILITY - JUNE 28, 2006
"When we ignore the debate about what it means to be a good Christian or Muslim or Jew; when we discuss religion only in the negative sense of where or how it should not be practiced, rather than in the positive sense of what it tells us about our obligations towards one another; when we shy away from religious venues and religious broadcasts because we assume that we will be unwelcome - others will fill the vacuum, those with the most insular views of faith, or those who cynically use religion to justify partisan ends."
SENATOR OBAMA'S REMARKS RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY IN AMERICA - JUNE 28, 2006
"Whatever we once were, we are no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers."
http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/08/19/his-own-words-obama-religion
Here he talks about being a devout Christian:
I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life. But most importantly, I believe in the example that Jesus set by feeding the hungry and healing the sick and always prioritizing the least of these over the powerful. I didn’t ‘fall out in church’ as they say, but there was a very strong awakening in me of the importance of these issues in my life. I didn’t want to walk alone on this journey. Accepting Jesus Christ in my life has been a powerful guide for my conduct and my values and my ideals.
. . .
http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/20080306_news_flash_obama_clinton_claim_christian_faith/
Here he discusses embracing certain parts of the Bible and the death and resurrection of Jesus:
Well, look, obviously as a Christian I believe in the values that are laid out in Scripture. I reflect on them often. I reflect on the lessons of Scripture as I’m going through the day. I pray frequently. I wrestle with doubts and try to figure out whether I’m doing the right thing, am I operating in an honest and moral way that is true to my religious precepts? Sometimes I may falter. So I guess the point is, I approach my work or I guess my faith is part of everything that I do. And I don’t think there’s a clear separation between my faith and how I try to live my life. And I certainly think that part of my motivation in the work that I do is a belief in what I consider the core precept of Christianity in addition to Christ dying for your sins and that is treating your brothers and sisters as you would have them treat you. A sense of empathy and a belief in the golden rule. And that’s what I try to apply to my work and what I do every day.
http://www.jewishjournal.com/thegodblog/item/christianity_and_politics_obama_explains_christ_paid_price_for_sin_20080603/
Here he talks about being called by God:
"The questions I had did not magically disappear," Obama wrote in his recent book, titled "The Audacity of Hope" after Wright's turn of phrase, of the day four years later when he made a formal commitment of Christian faith. "But kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side of Chicago, I felt God's spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth."
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0716/p01s01-uspo.html
Here he talks about doing God's will:
Explaining what it meant to him to be a Christian, the Democratic senator from Illinois talked of "walking humbly with our God": "I know that I don't walk alone, and I know that if I can get myself out of the way, that I can maybe carry out in some small way what he intends."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-saddleback-obama-mccainaug17,0,4760268.story
Here he uses his faith to try and get votes in South Carolina, calling himself a "committed Christian":
(http://bp0.blogger.com/_MnYI3_FRbbQ/R5TrN0RTKFI/AAAAAAAAAfE/OcHrLrst7z4/s400/obama2.png)
(http://bp1.blogger.com/_MnYI3_FRbbQ/R5TxKERTKII/AAAAAAAAAfc/0_bBBZX8NMw/s320/obama4.png)
Today, Greg Sargent posted a brochure which the Obama campaign is distributing in South Carolina which seem to include religious appeals at least as overt and explicit as anything Huckabee has done. The center page of the brochure proclaims -- in the largest letters on the page -- that Obama is a "COMMITTED CHRISTIAN," and includes three pictures of Obama, all of which show him praying or preaching in a Church, and also includes a fourth picture: of the interior of a Church with a large cross lurking in the background. The page also says that Obama is "guided by his Christian faith" and quotes Obama saying: "We do what we do because God is with us."
That same page prints Obama's views "on the power of prayer," and -- using the same language George Bush has frequently used as a signifier to evangelical voters -- says that Obama is "Called to Christ," "Called to Bring Change" and "Called to Serve":
Similarly, the front page of the brochure shows Obama in a chin-on-hand contemplative posture and underneath, it reads: "Answering the Call." The last page shows two more pictures of Obama in Church, proclaims him again in large letters to be a "COMMITTED CHRISTIAN," and describes how he "felt a beckoning and accepted Jesus Christ into [his] life":
Sargent speculates that the brochure is an attempt to counter the false whispering campaign increasingly being circulated in South Carolina (by whom, we should find out) that Obama is a Muslim. That very well may be, but the brochure seems designed with a far broader purpose: namely, to signify to South Carolina's many Christian voters that Obama is one of them and therefore should have their vote for President, much the way that Huckabee sought to court the evangelical vote that was so critical to the GOP Iowa caucus.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/01/21/obama/
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What a farce.
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Why Obama May Pass On Reelection
Russell Halley, These New Times | Aug. 17, 2011, 10:23 AM | 3,077 | 9
Political observers of a certain age will remember the night of March 31, 1968. At the very end of a long speech about the Vietnam War, President Johnson shocked the nation with his announcement that “I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President.”
Don’t be surprised if Obama makes a similar announcement.
To understand why, it's worth looking at how we got the President we have.
Whose idea was this anyway?
Early rumblings of a possible Obama run were reported by Dan Balz in a Washington Post story in October of 2006 the day after an appearance Obama made on Meet the Press.
“At this point, Obama is a political phenomenon but hardly a tested politician on the national stage.” Balz wrote. “He has captured the imagination of Democrats and others mostly through a combination of glamour and intellect. He has no legislative record to speak of, given the short time he has been in the Senate and the fact that Democrats are in the minority.”
No legislative record to speak of. In January 2007, CBS News ran a story headlined “Obama Record May Be Gold Mine For Critics” and noted that “He voted against requiring medical care for aborted fetuses who survive. He supported allowing retired police officers to carry concealed weapons, but opposed allowing people to use banned handguns to defend against intruders in their homes. And the list of sensitive topics goes on.”
It wasn’t some overarching political achievement or some act of inspirational leadership that made him a serious contender. Sure, he had rocked the house with his keynote speech at the Democrat’s 2004 convention, but other than that, there really was no there, there.
Obama didn’t jump into the lead right away. His official announcement was on February 10, 2007, and a Washington Post-ABC News poll at the end of that month showed Hillary leading among Democrats at 36%, with Obama at 24%. A poll released May 3 by Quinnipiac University showed little change, with Clinton still leading 32% to 18%. As late as December 2007, Quinnipiac released results that showed Clinton leading by no less than 28% in each of three important states.
Hardly a groundswell. Was there something happening behind the scenes?
Was Obama chosen because he was a follower?
The political world was rocked when Ted Kennedy, liberal icon and “the Lion of the Senate” endorsed the young candidate from Illinois in January 2008. At that time, Clinton and Obama had each won two primaries and were preparing for February 5th when 22 states were to hold primaries and caucuses. Reaction was immediate.
"The America of Jack and Bobby Kennedy touched all of us. Through all of these decades, the one who kept that flame alive was Ted Kennedy,'' Representative Bill Delahunt told the Boston Globe. "So having him pass on the torch [to Obama] is of incredible significance. It's historic.''
Other endorsements followed. Soon the party establishment began to abandon the seasoned Senator from New York who had impressed even Republican colleagues with her workmanlike approach to her job in favor of the untested Junior Senator from Illinois without a record.
Why would they do that? In the 2010 book “Game Change” by Mark Halperin and John Heilmann, Harry Reid was quoted in 2008 referring to the candidate in a private conversation as “light-skinned" and with "no Negro dialect."
In that same book it was alleged that former president Bill Clinton told the late Sen. Ted Kennedy that "a few years ago this guy [Obama] would have been getting us coffee."
Joe Biden was widely quoted when he described the future President by saying "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man."
These three influential Democrats hardly seemed to revere Obama as the leader and intellect the press was falling in love with.
The One
Four years on, there is a small, but growing rumbling in the political underground that Obama was chosen precisely because of his light weight. The argument is that he was promoted over Hillary because he would be malleable and would “lead from behind.” In other words, he’d follow.
Party elders sensed that his charisma, effective speaking style and inspiring tale as a bi-racial success story made him a product they could sell to the voters. After the sale, he’d be easy to control.
The press loved the screenplay and the voters were mesmerized by the chimera of hope and change. Most importantly, Obama himself bought into the hype.
“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for,” Obama told us in February 2008.
By June he was even more Messianic. “I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when …the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal…”
For the first two years of his presidency, Obama believed the buildup. And why wouldn’t he? Even before his inauguration, he was widely compared to Lincoln, the bi-partisan saint of the American political pantheon. Time ran a cover of him as FDR. After less than a year in office with no tangible accomplishments he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize by a committee that deserved their own prize for wishful thinking.
With bulletproof majorities in both houses of congress who did the wonky work of drafting the radical legislation they’d been plotting since the 1960’s, the Obama’s partied in the White House, flew off to date nights in New York City, and racked up vacation days.
Sure, it was an activist presidency, but from the start, he handed the initiative to the congressional Democrats while he worked on his golf game. His administration’s first major legislation was the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the failed stimulus. A bill written by a carnival of greedy hands, it was a field day for Congressional Democrats and a payoff to union supporters, but did nothing except run up $800 billion in debt with little return.
Remember the specifics of the plan that Obama laid out on Healthcare? You don’t. He didn’t advance a plan. Obamacare was the work of progressive radicals in Congress who had waited decades to impose national health care whether we wanted it or not.
The Music Stops and the Crowd Turns Ugly
Within 90 days of the inauguration, voters began to reject the heavy hand of their new government, and from that came the Teaparty movement. Rather than temper their plans or attempt to lead in the direction they wanted to take us, the Democrats pushed through their dream legislation over the protests of the majority on Christmas Eve. The battle was joined.
The 2010 election was an historic rejection of the status quo, and almost immediately the Democrat’s fortunes began to turn. With a leadership vacuum in the White House, and before the new Congress was even seated, the administration was forced to cave on their plan to repeal the Bush Tax cuts.
Obama now acts like he no longer believes the 2008 hype. This year, they’ve lost the battles on the Continuing Resolution and the budget, backed Mubarak and then abandoned him impressing no one, and staked out an unpopular position on Libya while muddling the efforts in Afghanistan. Obama’s economy is awful and getting worse, and he has just presided over the first credit downgrade in the history of the nation.
Obama’s approval rating fell to 39% last week, a good 6 points below where Bush was at this stage of his presidency. This week he’s roaming the Midwest in a menacing looking black bus, trying without conviction or success to convince voters that the economic malaise is anyone’s fault but his. He promises to unveil a jobs program next month, but gives no thought to cancelling his Martha’s Vineyard while the nation sweats through a difficult August.
The President is diminished. Having lost control of the conversation and the surety of power after the last election, Obama’s leadership void is now a mortal wound. There is no Kennedy is guide him, no giants to protect him, and the likes of Reid and Pelosi are toxic to all but the most loyal Democrats. There is no reason to believe that poll numbers will be going up anytime soon. Why suffer the degradation of humiliating defeat?
Fast forward to March 31, 2012. Imagine a re-election campaign facing approvals of 35% or less, wide dissatisfaction in his own party, and a solid majority against him among likely voters. Is it so hard to imagine Obama decling a second campaign when he’s no longer the cool new guy?
Do not be surprised to hear a reprise of “I shall not seek, and will not accept…”
Please follow Politics on Twitter and Facebook.
Follow Russell Halley on Twitter.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/why-obama-may-pass-on-reelection-2011-8#ixzz1VJ0bj07f
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1 reason Obama is a 2 term president:
American Idol
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Obama is old hat at this point.
I think he is gone no matter who runs.
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Obama is old hat at this point.
I think he is gone no matter who runs.
I am not so sure, especially when you have flip flop (Romney) and Obama jr. (Perry) leading the way.
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I am not so sure, especially when you have flip flop (Romney) and Obama jr. (Perry) leading the way.
You have no idea how sick of obama people are. I was on the train today and one dude just started talking to me about obamacare and how his health plan went from 500 a month to 1600 month.
People are pissed off. Obamacare single handily will end obama.
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Why Obama May Pass On Reelection
Russell Halley, These New Times | Aug. 17, 2011, 10:23 AM | 3,077 | 9
Political observers of a certain age will remember the night of March 31, 1968. At the very end of a long speech about the Vietnam War, President Johnson shocked the nation with his announcement that “I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President.”
Don’t be surprised if Obama makes a similar announcement.
To understand why, it's worth looking at how we got the President we have.
Whose idea was this anyway?
Early rumblings of a possible Obama run were reported by Dan Balz in a Washington Post story in October of 2006 the day after an appearance Obama made on Meet the Press.
“At this point, Obama is a political phenomenon but hardly a tested politician on the national stage.” Balz wrote. “He has captured the imagination of Democrats and others mostly through a combination of glamour and intellect. He has no legislative record to speak of, given the short time he has been in the Senate and the fact that Democrats are in the minority.”
No legislative record to speak of. In January 2007, CBS News ran a story headlined “Obama Record May Be Gold Mine For Critics” and noted that “He voted against requiring medical care for aborted fetuses who survive. He supported allowing retired police officers to carry concealed weapons, but opposed allowing people to use banned handguns to defend against intruders in their homes. And the list of sensitive topics goes on.”
It wasn’t some overarching political achievement or some act of inspirational leadership that made him a serious contender. Sure, he had rocked the house with his keynote speech at the Democrat’s 2004 convention, but other than that, there really was no there, there.
Obama didn’t jump into the lead right away. His official announcement was on February 10, 2007, and a Washington Post-ABC News poll at the end of that month showed Hillary leading among Democrats at 36%, with Obama at 24%. A poll released May 3 by Quinnipiac University showed little change, with Clinton still leading 32% to 18%. As late as December 2007, Quinnipiac released results that showed Clinton leading by no less than 28% in each of three important states.
Hardly a groundswell. Was there something happening behind the scenes?
Was Obama chosen because he was a follower?
The political world was rocked when Ted Kennedy, liberal icon and “the Lion of the Senate” endorsed the young candidate from Illinois in January 2008. At that time, Clinton and Obama had each won two primaries and were preparing for February 5th when 22 states were to hold primaries and caucuses. Reaction was immediate.
"The America of Jack and Bobby Kennedy touched all of us. Through all of these decades, the one who kept that flame alive was Ted Kennedy,'' Representative Bill Delahunt told the Boston Globe. "So having him pass on the torch [to Obama] is of incredible significance. It's historic.''
Other endorsements followed. Soon the party establishment began to abandon the seasoned Senator from New York who had impressed even Republican colleagues with her workmanlike approach to her job in favor of the untested Junior Senator from Illinois without a record.
Why would they do that? In the 2010 book “Game Change” by Mark Halperin and John Heilmann, Harry Reid was quoted in 2008 referring to the candidate in a private conversation as “light-skinned" and with "no Negro dialect."
In that same book it was alleged that former president Bill Clinton told the late Sen. Ted Kennedy that "a few years ago this guy [Obama] would have been getting us coffee."
Joe Biden was widely quoted when he described the future President by saying "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man."
These three influential Democrats hardly seemed to revere Obama as the leader and intellect the press was falling in love with.
The One
Four years on, there is a small, but growing rumbling in the political underground that Obama was chosen precisely because of his light weight. The argument is that he was promoted over Hillary because he would be malleable and would “lead from behind.” In other words, he’d follow.
Party elders sensed that his charisma, effective speaking style and inspiring tale as a bi-racial success story made him a product they could sell to the voters. After the sale, he’d be easy to control.
The press loved the screenplay and the voters were mesmerized by the chimera of hope and change. Most importantly, Obama himself bought into the hype.
“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for,” Obama told us in February 2008.
By June he was even more Messianic. “I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when …the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal…”
For the first two years of his presidency, Obama believed the buildup. And why wouldn’t he? Even before his inauguration, he was widely compared to Lincoln, the bi-partisan saint of the American political pantheon. Time ran a cover of him as FDR. After less than a year in office with no tangible accomplishments he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize by a committee that deserved their own prize for wishful thinking.
With bulletproof majorities in both houses of congress who did the wonky work of drafting the radical legislation they’d been plotting since the 1960’s, the Obama’s partied in the White House, flew off to date nights in New York City, and racked up vacation days.
Sure, it was an activist presidency, but from the start, he handed the initiative to the congressional Democrats while he worked on his golf game. His administration’s first major legislation was the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the failed stimulus. A bill written by a carnival of greedy hands, it was a field day for Congressional Democrats and a payoff to union supporters, but did nothing except run up $800 billion in debt with little return.
Remember the specifics of the plan that Obama laid out on Healthcare? You don’t. He didn’t advance a plan. Obamacare was the work of progressive radicals in Congress who had waited decades to impose national health care whether we wanted it or not.
The Music Stops and the Crowd Turns Ugly
Within 90 days of the inauguration, voters began to reject the heavy hand of their new government, and from that came the Teaparty movement. Rather than temper their plans or attempt to lead in the direction they wanted to take us, the Democrats pushed through their dream legislation over the protests of the majority on Christmas Eve. The battle was joined.
The 2010 election was an historic rejection of the status quo, and almost immediately the Democrat’s fortunes began to turn. With a leadership vacuum in the White House, and before the new Congress was even seated, the administration was forced to cave on their plan to repeal the Bush Tax cuts.
Obama now acts like he no longer believes the 2008 hype. This year, they’ve lost the battles on the Continuing Resolution and the budget, backed Mubarak and then abandoned him impressing no one, and staked out an unpopular position on Libya while muddling the efforts in Afghanistan. Obama’s economy is awful and getting worse, and he has just presided over the first credit downgrade in the history of the nation.
Obama’s approval rating fell to 39% last week, a good 6 points below where Bush was at this stage of his presidency. This week he’s roaming the Midwest in a menacing looking black bus, trying without conviction or success to convince voters that the economic malaise is anyone’s fault but his. He promises to unveil a jobs program next month, but gives no thought to cancelling his Martha’s Vineyard while the nation sweats through a difficult August.
The President is diminished. Having lost control of the conversation and the surety of power after the last election, Obama’s leadership void is now a mortal wound. There is no Kennedy is guide him, no giants to protect him, and the likes of Reid and Pelosi are toxic to all but the most loyal Democrats. There is no reason to believe that poll numbers will be going up anytime soon. Why suffer the degradation of humiliating defeat?
Fast forward to March 31, 2012. Imagine a re-election campaign facing approvals of 35% or less, wide dissatisfaction in his own party, and a solid majority against him among likely voters. Is it so hard to imagine Obama decling a second campaign when he’s no longer the cool new guy?
Do not be surprised to hear a reprise of “I shall not seek, and will not accept…”
Please follow Politics on Twitter and Facebook.
Follow Russell Halley on Twitter.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/why-obama-may-pass-on-reelection-2011-8#ixzz1VJ0bj07f
Good article. Amazing to see how much things have changed. He burned through all of his political capital. The major endorsements back in 2007 will not help him in 2012.
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You have no idea how sick of obama people are. I was on the train today and one dude just started talking to me about obamacare and how his health plan went from 500 a month to 1600 month.
People are pissed off. Obamacare single handily will end obama.
Your train full of typically angry new yorkers isn't Representative of how the country is going to view things 8 months from now when the Bank backed propaganda machine is in full swing. Look for gas to go down and good news to pop up about UE.
Obama is a modern day stooge and slave to banks.
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Your train full of typically angry new yorkers isn't Representative of how the country is going to view things 8 months from now when the Bank backed propaganda machine is in full swing. Look for gas to go down and good news to pop up about UE.
Obama is a modern day stooge and slave to banks.
yeah ok. Even in NY we hate his guts. Even peiople I know who voted for him hate him now.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/gallup-obamas-favorability-lowest-of-any-nominee-since-bob-dole/2011/08/25/gIQAMudIWR_blog.html
LMFAO!!!!
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The Sloppy Incumbent
The once-invincible Obama campaign team has become mistake-prone
AP Images
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BY: Matthew Continetti - February 24, 2012 5:00 am
The sound and fury of the Republican primary has distracted political observers from one of the most interesting political developments of the cycle thus far: President Obama’s reelection campaign is a pallid imitation of his 2008 juggernaut.
The merits and importance of that campaign have been exaggerated, of course. Show me a candidate from the out-party running in an environment in which the incumbent averages 29 percent approval in the run-up to the election, in which the economy is in a recession and credit crisis, in which U.S. troops are deployed overseas in two unpopular wars, and I’ll show you a winner. The fact that Obama’s general election opponent chose to ignore his greatest vulnerability only eased his passage to the White House. The favorable political landscape and the media’s hosannas obscured weaknesses—Obama’s remoteness, his dependence on scripts, his partisanship, and his inflated sense of his powers of persuasion—that would harm him after the Inauguration.
Obama for America 2008 may not have been, as the president put it on Election Night, the “best political campaign, I think, in the history of America.” Nor was it, as a former editor of the New Republic once wrote, “the political equivalent of crossing a Lamborghini with a Hummer.” But Obama’s first presidential run was formidable in at least this aspect: The then-senator and his top lieutenants were careful in projecting a “good-government,” squeaky-clean halo over his candidacy. Obama pledged to operate within the system of public financing. No lobbyists were allowed to donate to the campaign. No lobbyist, it was said, would be allowed to serve in an Obama administration. Such an administration, moreover, would be committed to “creating an unprecedented level of openness in government.”
Such promises, more than any specific policies, were crucial to the burgeoning conceit that Obama’s candidacy was “potentially transformational.” That Obama held to a supposedly higher standard than Hillary Clinton or John McCain added to his “cool” factor and helped him excite young voters. But the pledges lasted only as long as they were politically useful. As soon as the Obama campaign realized that it could raise more money outside than inside the public system, it revealed how empty its rhetoric had been. Obama, an outspoken supporter of campaign finance reform, became the first candidate in the post-Watergate era to reject the public financing system.
The Republicans working against Obama’s candidacy in 2008 were both frustrated and impressed by his campaign’s thoroughness in quashing potential scandals. Try as they might, Republican researchers four years ago could not uncover any major lapses in the Obama campaign’s vetting procedures for donors and bundlers. Sure, the Republicans uncovered minor mistakes here and there, but the material was small fry. Chicago was fastidious. And the money came flowing in: $750 million, the most money raised by any candidate for office in American history.
The turnabout on public financing, meanwhile, set the pattern for future reversals. First comes the flowery profession of left-wing ideals. Then the grubby realities set in and Obama and his team backtrack on earlier pledges. The switch causes a brief news sensation in which partisan Democrats declare that Obama was forced into abandoning his position because of Republican perfidy. The media herd nods its collective head and the breach is quickly forgotten. A few true believers turn against the administration by closing their pocketbooks.
Obama is a pro at delivering empty promises. Since the launch of his presidential odyssey, he not only has reversed course on public financing but also on the individual health care mandate and the public option and the release of sensitive documents pertaining to interrogations. He was unable to satisfy his base by closing Guantanamo or by giving Khalid Sheikh Mohammed a civilian trial. The supposed civil libertarian has embraced preventive detention and the extrajudicial killing of American citizens involved in terrorist networks. Lobbyists were granted waivers and provided loopholes to serve in the administration. The White House’s record on transparency was clouded at best. None of this was sufficient to alienate Obama’s core supporters, who despite the occasional griping were content with their man’s clichéd paeans to fairness and public investments and green energy economics.
This lack of serious intra-party criticism encouraged the Obama political team to become lazy. The president relied too heavily on the unions, who were fighting rearguard actions to prevent common sense pension and benefit reforms. His unpopular policies—stimulus, healthcare—contributed to a steady decline in his approval ratings. He failed to expand the ranks of potential contributors. He failed to enact climate change legislation, angering the green lobby, but did sign the Dodd-Frank monstrosity into law, angering his friends on Wall Street. Other allies discovered that cronyism does not always pay.
As a result, Obama has found it more difficult to raise money. He has $140 million so far, suggesting that it will be hard for his campaign to match its 2008 numbers, much less its ridiculous rumored projection of $1 billion. The campaign has become more desperate as the money has dried up. You see it in the U-turn on Super PACs, which have gone from threatening democracy to being an integral part in the president’s reelection effort. You see it in the questionable characters that show up in the lists of Obama donors and bundlers: The two brothers of a Mexican fugitive; the former Democratic congressman and registered lobbyist who says he was never a lobbyist; a king of short sales connected to the call girl for client number nine; the founder of Def Jam Records; and Anna Wintour.
Moreover, what, exactly, is the president’s message? Obama ran on hope and change and an end to the war in Iraq in 2008. He pledged to reform health care and Wall Street and change the tone in Washington. But the geniuses in Chicago have yet to come up with a 2012 slogan that is anywhere near as intoxicating. “Obama 2012: It Could Be Worse” just won’t cut it. Nor will singing. Right now, the media are content to focus on Republican infighting. They are happy to assist Obama in the suggestion that Election Day 2012 will somehow decide the future of contraception in America. But there is a long way to go before the vote. And at some point voters are bound to wonder what a second Obama term will bring.
Declining fundraising, suspect supporters, and the absence of an affirmative message—these are all signs of a campaign that is nowhere as strong as we have been led to believe. They undermine the notion that the 2008 campaign was all that impressive to begin with. And they point to a fact that soon will be impossible to ignore: President Obama has gotten sloppy.
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A second term of this demon will be the end of us.
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Rasmussen: 59% think Obama is more liberal than themselves (How does this translate in November?)
Hotair ^ | 03/12/2012 | Ed Morrissey
Posted on Monday, March 12, 2012 3:12:04 PM by SeekAndFind
Rasmussen has two polls out today, but neither have anything to do with Alabama or Mississippi. In surveys conducted last week and released today, 59% of likely voters nationwide consider Barack Obama more liberal than themselves — and only 37% identify more closely with Obama than with his Republican rivals. Let’s start with ideology:
The number of voters who consider President Obama more liberal than they are has risen this month to its highest level since last October.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 59% of Likely U.S. Voters now think, in political terms, that the president is more liberal than they are. That’s up from 52% last month and an all-time low of 51% in December. In March 2011, a high of 61% felt the president was more liberal.
Eleven percent (11%) feel the president is more conservative than they are, and 25% say his views are about the same as their own.
To give people an idea about the overall survey, almost a majority (47%) say that Congressional Republicans are more conservative than they are. Only 19% said that they are about the same (25% said that about Obama). This doesn’t appear to be a case of Republican bias in the sample. Only 52% of Democrats said that Obama was “about the same,” with 20% saying he was more liberal and 19% more conservative. Almost two-thirds of unaffiliated voters say that Obama is more liberal (65%) compared to 20% who say about the same and 12% who think he’s more conservative than themselves.
That presents a big obstacle towards attracting voters and running as a moderate in the next election. What happens when Obama competes against all four remaining Republicans in the primary fight? He gets nearly twice as much support as any individual candidate, but barely clears the one-third threshold:
Ask voters which presidential contender’s views are more like their own, and just 37% say President Obama. Most (53%) say they think more like one of the four Republican presidential hopefuls.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 16% of Likely U.S. Voters say when it comes to the important issues facing the nation, their views are more like former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s. An identical number (16%) say they think more like Rick Santorum. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Twelve percent (12%) say their views are more like those of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, while nine percent (9%) say the same of the views of Texas Congressman Ron Paul. Only four percent (4%) believe that none of the top contenders for the White House in November fills the bill when it comes to the important issues of the day, and six percent (6%) are undecided.
This comes from a survey done separately from the one above, but it tends to corroborate it. While the Republican field is divided, Obama tends to look better by comparison. Once one Republican wins the nomination, Obama will be in deep trouble unless either he or circumstances dramatically change. He does slightly worse among independents (30%), the “other” ethnic demo (29%), seniors (33%), 50-64YOs (36%), and especially bad in the middle-class income ranges of $40-60K and $60-75K, where he gets 27% in each.
Obama only wins majorities among Democrats (only 77%!), black voters (75%), self-described liberals (86%) and moderates (barely at 50%), and the political class (71%). Needless to say, a Democrat who couldn’t carry a huge majority in most of these demos wouldn’t have a prayer of winning an election anyway, and the Republican candidate isn’t going to win many votes among self-described liberals and the political class. The overall picture these polls paint, though, is of a President who has gotten far out of the mainstream, and who will be very vulnerable in the fall if Republicans can unite around a single candidate.
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Have you noticed that Romney has not won any Southern States...just as I said last year. The fact that he's a Mormon just hurts him big time. If you can't beat someone like Santorum, then something is wrong.
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Have you noticed that Romney has not won any Southern States...just as I said last year. The fact that he's a Mormon just hurts him big time. If you can't beat someone like Santorum, then something is wrong.
He is beating thugbama is WAPO as well as RAS
Once he is the nominee and we focus on obamas record of debt, deficit, depression, and deceit, and Obama flails at the wind, he is done.
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He is beating thugbama is WAPO as well as RAS
Once he is the nominee and we focus on obamas record of debt, deficit, depression, and deceit, and Obama flails at the wind, he is done.
Romney is being torn to bits by Santorum and Newt. By the time he wins the nomination, he's not going to be in any position to challenge Obama. He's basically the John Kerry of the 2012 election. He's been branded a flip flopper and is being called Obama 2.0 but even worse, the South is not giving him any love and he can't win without the South...period.
The only change I see is someone else stepping in.