Wow, and I thought Gordon Brown was unpopular
From the Telegraph:
The decline in Barack Obama’s popularity since July has been the steepest of any president at the same stage of his first term for more than 50 years. Gallup recorded an average daily approval rating of 53 per cent for Mr Obama for the third quarter of the year, a sharp drop from the 62 per cent he recorded from April. His current approval rating – hovering just above the level that would make re-election an uphill struggle – is close to the bottom for newly-elected president. Mr Obama entered the White House with a soaring 78 per cent approval rating.
The bad polling news came as Mr Obama returned to the campaign trail to prevent his Democratic party losing two governorships next month in states in which he defeated Senator John McCain in last November’s election. Jeffrey Jones of Gallup explained: “The dominant political focus for Obama in the third quarter was the push for health care reform, including his nationally televised address to Congress in early September. Obama hoped that Congress would vote on health care legislation before its August recess, but that goal was missed, and some members of Congress faced angry constituents at town hall meetings to discuss health care reform. Meanwhile, unemployment continued to climb near 10 per cent.”
…Mr Obama is also facing widespread criticism for his drawn-out decision-making process over what to do next in Afghanistan. Republicans sense Mr Obama is in a vulnerable position and this week saw the return to the public stage of his perhaps most vehement opponent – Vice-President Dick Cheney. In a blistering speech on Wednesday night, he accused Mr Obama of failing to give Americans troops on the ground a clear mission or defined goals and of being seemingly “afraid to make a decision” about Afghanistan “The White House must stop dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger,” Cheney said at the Center for Security Policy in Washington. “Make no mistake, signals of indecision out of Washington hurt our allies and embolden our adversaries.” He hit out at Obama aides who suggested that the Bush administration had failed to weigh up conditions in Afghanistan properly before committing troops. “Now they seem to be pulling back and blaming others for their failure to implement the strategy they embraced. It’s time for President Obama to do what it takes to win a war he has repeatedly and rightly called a war of necessity.”
All the hope is gone and what’s left behind is a dire economic situation (which he inherited), a faltering set of healthcare reforms (which he certainly did not inherit), a failing war that he never wanted (but is stuck with in any case) and a rather dismal attempt to secure peace in the Middle East (which he was expected to make progress on). Is his plight the result of bad judgement or bad luck? I’m inclined to think it’s a combination of the two.
I agree, a combination of the two.
An airhead.Tony Blair Mk 2. The American public woke up faster than we did. Good for them.
[...] of the major causes of this economic downfall has been the terrible state of mortgage industry. Wow, and I thought Gordon Brown was unpopular – lettersfromatory.com 10/24/2009 From the Telegraph: The decline in Barack Obama’s [...]
May I suggest that BHO is and always was a Chicago Machine politician of significantly limited abilities but great charisma whose main qualification for office was that he wasn’t Hilary.
I offer the following quotation, taken from today’s DT, as a statement on the current state of Western Democracy.
“”Qualities considered useful in advertising are now considered essential political qualities… obedience and attractiveness are now indispensable elements of the education needed to serve in positions of the utmost responsibility.”
Thats BHO to a T
It was all down to bad judgment. He is a total idiot.
He inherited an economic mess, and what did he do? He did exactly what GWB had been doing and threw loads of money at the banks, in fact BHO threw twice as much at them as GWB did. What GWB was borderline criminal and what BHO was certainly criminal (I mean in the real and literal sense of his administration having close link to the big banks etc).
He inherited Afgh war, and what did he do? He seems to be muddling along in the same direction that GWB was doing.
Why not draw a line under each of these, liquidate the banks and get the troops out? Things soon sort themselves out if you stop meddling.
Middle East is a Red Herring, all very tricky, I don’t think anybody blames him for what goes on.
And as you say, he tackled the healthcare reforms all wrong. It would have been quite sufficient to set up some new hospitals that provide care for low cost or free for those people without medical insurance (which is insanely expensive, the NHS really does look like stupendous value for money compared to what the Yanks pay)
I think there is more bad judgement here than you think. Obama had a deal with the insurance companies and the pharma companies on healthcare reform. It wasn’t perfect but it was a workable solution. Then he threw them to the wolves to try and shore up his popularity.
He is playing for short term poliical angles – using Chicago style politics (what is it with the Florida Democrat Congressman going round describing Fox News as an “enemey of the state”?).
And the people are seeing through him. Good for them – he will be the next Jimmy Carter in my view
The real problem with Obama was that he was a product of media spin. In Chicago, he had little competition due to the odd nature of local politics there, and nationally he was presented as some kind of messiah to whom the rest of the world’s ears would instantly be turned, and who would hang on his every word.
Reality has hit. He is no more than average. That just ain’t gonna be enough.
Obama is looking like a one termer unless the Republicans do something supremely stupid and put Sarah ‘Culture Wars’ Palin up against him in 2012…
‘Reality has hit. He is no more than average. That just ain’t gonna be enough.’
But he won the Nobel peace prize. Surely you only get that if you bring in world peace. He did that… didn’t he..?
“Is his plight the result of bad judgement or bad luck? I’m inclined to think it’s a combination of the two.”
If he had good judgement, the bad luck he inherited (and actually, a lot of that falls to Democrat opposition in the last few years too) wouldn’t matter so much would it?
As it is, he’s the failure I fully expected him to be when I looked at his background (at least, the parts of it we know).
He’s had a lot of bad luck in what he inherited, but then again, a lot of politicians inherit a lot of problems and still make it work. Like Reagan after Jimmy Carter, for example. Or Thatcher after Callaghan. And he has shown very bad judgment in making healthcare into such a critical issue. he isn’t naive; he must have known that it would go down like a lead balloon.
However, whilst it is tempting to write off Obama owing to his falling ratings, it is worth noting that his ratings are far more impressive than the last President at his retirement. Also, most Presidents who go on to win re-election suffer falling ratings – like Clinton and, again, Reagan. Whilst Obama’s drop in approval has been rapid, it could also be down to the fact that last year there was a relentless drive to make him the most popular man in the world. That has slowed now he is President; it will restart again as he gets closer to re-election.
@Shaun. BHO is not even certain to get the 2012 nomination. The “Hilary for 2012″ campaign was up and running even before BHO was inaugurated. Betcha’ monsters will be crawling out of the Democratic swamp by Christmas 2010)
The Cato Institute forecast this in a podcast ealier in the year. The problem for him is that his approval rating was so high when elected, higher than anyone else including JFK, that he was bound to dissappoint a lot of people.
Neck and neck between these two boys – just who can get lower? The Limbo Rock principle.
Never thought I would say this but I would have preferred Hilary, Obama reminds me of the Manchurian candidate, an attractive front man, or at least he was before I got sick of the sight of him, for some very unattractive characters and policies who has brought Chigago machine politics to the White House. Without the telepromptor he is almost as inarticulate as Bush, seems very petty and thin skinned but America will survive him. Just hope he doesn’t get the chance to ruin things there as Blair/Brown did in this country.
Dear Emma. Are you sure you’d want a POTUS who hallucinates about being under fire as Commander-in-Chief?
Obarmy Marxist
@Grumpy Old Man –
You have a point but lets face it the choice of all three of them was not appealing and I hope for a better choice next time. Still at least Bill would have kept us amused watching him trying not to upstage his wife.