Deepening economic pessimism has pushed down President Obama’s approval rating to a near record low, but he holds an early advantage over prospective 2012 rivals in part because of widespread dissatisfaction with Republican candidates, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.Well, it turns out Sarah Palin launched a new website yesterday, which stoked speculation that she's going to formally announce her candidacy. I hope so. She'll fire up the GOP. Game on.
In the survey, 47 percent approve of the job Obama is doing, down seven points since January. Half of all Americans disapprove of his job performance, with 37 percent saying they “strongly disapprove,” nearly matching the worst level of his presidency.
Driving the downward movement in Obama’s standing are renewed concerns about the economy and fresh worry about rising prices, particularly for gasoline. Despite signs of economic growth, 44 percent of Americans see the economy as getting worse, the highest percentage to say so in more than two years.
The toll on Obama is direct: 57 percent disapprove of the job the president is doing dealing with the economy, tying his highest negative rating when it comes to the issue. And the president is doing a bit worse among politically important independents.
If Obama is running into headwinds, however, his potential Republican opponents face serious problems, as well. Less than half of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say they are satisfied with the field of GOP candidates.
That field is still taking shape, but the sentiment is a big falloff from four years ago, when nearly two-thirds of Republicans were satisfied with their options.
More than anything else, according to those who’ve spoken to him, he doesn’t want to be seen as the butt of this particular joke.
“He gets mad that people aren’t taking him seriously,“ said a Republican who’s spoken with him.
Still, while he is “serious” from the organizational point of view and appears very likely to emerge as a formal candidate for office, he will struggle hard to be taken seriously as a potential Republican nominee. Trump may not be in on the joke — he rarely jokes about himself — but he has been a punch line as long as he’s been a public figure. He’s still more of a sideshow than anything else, most Republican insiders are convinced, and his respectable showings in largely meaningless early polls reflect little more than his widespread notoriety.
Here's the full video clip: "State of the Union, 2011."
A bare majority at CNN's poll (52 percent) report a positive reaction to the address, and a third said "they had a somewhat positive response and 15 percent with a negative response."
More at Memeorandum.
I'll be reading over some of the left's reactions and will have more in an update.
My previous essay is here, with some commentary and hot links: "Obama State of the Union Address 2011."
Meanwhile, at LAT, "State of the Union: Obama Calls for Unity, Yet Challenges GOP":
The president's State of the Union message focuses on bipartisanship and offers proposals sure to please conservatives. But the broad outlines of his expected reelection run are clearly visible.More at the link.
The moment was tailor-made for President Obama, who rose to national fame seven years ago on a call for unifying America's blue and red states.
Standing before a divided Congress on Tuesday, with Democrats and Republicans seated side-by-side in a nod to comity, he delivered the appeal for unity many were expecting him to give.
"Governing will now be a shared responsibility between parties," he said. "We will move forward together, or not at all."
But the political reality behind his rhetoric was light-years removed from his lofty 2004 Democratic convention debut, when the then-Senate candidate from Illinois declared that "there's not a liberal America and a conservative America; there's the United States of America."
Now, a president at midterm, he's wiser and battle-scarred, and appears to have bounced back from the November election that delivered what he had described as a "shellacking."
With a much-discussed, and thus far successful, turn toward the center, he has strengthened his hand as he prepares to battle Republicans in Congress and launch his reelection campaign.
After the Giffords memorial service, this effort seemed like Obama had phoned it in.Wince.
Also, at ABC News, "O'Donnell Claims Political Witch Hunt," and The Other McCain, "Christine O’Donnell’s Not a Witch, But They’re Gonna Burn Her Anyway" (via Memeorandum).
You remember Laura Richardson, right? She’s the Democrat congresswoman who defaulted six times on her home loans and has left a trail of unpaid bills in her wake. Well, she’s back. On behalf of taxpayers in her district, she’s now trying to get money back from Lehman Brothers after an investment gone awry. Hat tip to reader Thomas, who e-mails: “The irony is mighty thick.”This is why folks want term limits on Members of Congress.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
As Marcus and I sit around the Thanksgiving dinner table with our five children we have a lot to be thankful for. As a family tradition we go around the table and name a blessing that we are thankful for. I have given a lot of thought to what I am going to say this year as I have too many blessings to count.
First, my husband Marcus and my five children, Lucas, Harrison, Elisa, Caroline and Sophia for your support and love over this past year!
Secondly, you and the volunteers and staff who worked around the clock to get me re-elected in the sixth district.
Thirdly, the number of supporters around the country that have supported me and donated to my campaign to promote the message of Constitutional Conservatives.
Finally, The biggest blessing of this year and every year is our freedom that so many men and women have fought and died for to protect. My family and I daily give thanks and pray for the men and women in our armed forces who are home and abroad ensuring our safety and selflessly protecting our God given rights to live as a free people.
Thank you for your support and rest assured that this Thanksgiving this country is stronger because of you. I continue to work to make this nation strong on the principles and blessings that so many of us are thankful for today.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family and God Bless America!
No wonder many Americans are disinclined to believe the 'corrective' statements academics serve up, when so often such statements are inaccurate and slanted.That's pretty good — and apropos to my growing disenchantment with academic political science. And now Ann Althouse is directly over the target with a couple of posts on University of Wisconsin political scientist Charles Franklin, seen below (and at his faculty homepage):
... I said it and have no complaint that it was quoted when I knew I was speaking to journalists.And that's an academic dodge.
But I wish what I said next had also been quoted. I went on to say that despite not knowing the details of Johnson's policy positions, the voters did NOT make a mistake in choosing Johnson as the more conservative candidate and certain to be more favorable to cutting government. That was indeed the correct connection by an angry electorate, even if the details were quite vague.
Voter's often act on little information and can be astonishingly unaware of things one might consider "facts". A post-election Pew poll finds less than half (46%) know the GOP won only the House but not the Senate. And at times voters appear to vote for candidates who are likely to take positions at odds with the voter's interests.
But in the Johnson-Feingold race, I think despite lack of details about Johnson, a majority of Wisconsin voter's picked the guy they wanted, and for basically the right reason. Dems may be astonished at the rejection of a favorite son, but in making this choice I think voter's properly expressed their preferences and matched them to the right candidate.
Noem beat Blue Dog Democrat Stephanie Herseth Sandlin in a race I covered before the election: "Death to Blue Dogs Coming From Both Sides." Also, from Bob Belvedere, "Spotlight On Kristi Noem.
RELATED: At The Monkey Cage, "Combating Rumors about the Ground Zero Mosque." And the link there, "LEARNING THE TRUTH NOT EFFECTIVE IN BATTLING RUMORS ABOUT NYC MOSQUE, STUDY FINDS," from Erik Nisbet and Kelly Garrett. I've e-mailed the authors, and sent them links: "Questions for Imam Rauf From an American Muslim," by Zuhdi Jasser, and "Imam Feisal Rauf and the Genocidal Hamas Covenant."
House Republican freshmen chose Reps.-elect Tim Scott and Kristi Noem for new leadership positions Wednesday, as the party looked to capitalize on its midterm-election victories by boosting its appeal to women, minorities and young voters.More at the link, and you gotta love the diversity of the GOP freshman class.
Rep. John Boehner (R., Ohio) was chosen, as expected, to lead House Republicans overall, making him the likely speaker in January. In all, House Republicans' top six leaders will be white men.
Not so for the newly elected GOP freshmen class, which will have at least 85 members and constitute more than a third of House Republicans. Mr. Scott, of South Carolina, will be one of two African-American Republicans in Congress, and Ms. Noem, of South Dakota, will be one of two female GOP leaders.
"The freshman class is a big class," said Rep.-elect Steve Womack (R., Ark.). "It's going to wield a lot of clout here for a couple years. And I think the veteran members and the other side are going to pay a lot of attention to what we have to say."
Mr. Boehner announced shortly after the Nov. 2election that he was creating a new seat for a freshman at the leadership table. On Tuesday, he said he would add another. Those two positions will be filled by Mr. Scott, 45 years old, and Ms. Noem, 38. The two are newcomers to Washington, but not to politics.
Mr. Scott, who grew up poor with a single mother, was elected in 1995 to the Charleston County Council and later to the South Carolina legislature, becoming the first black Republican to serve in each body since Reconstruction. He is fiercely anti-tax, wants to make English the official language of government and says he would insist new immigrants learn English.
While serving in the legislature and working as an insurance agent and a partner in a real estate group, Mr. Scott won the Republican nomination for Congress last June in his heavily conservative district. He defeated Paul Thurmond, son of former Sen. Strom Thurmond, who was a segregationist for much of his career.
Ms. Noem is a rancher and mother of three whose family raises cattle and shows horses. When her father died, she left college to help run the ranch full-time. She is also a state legislator, though Republican leaders often play down that aspect of her career.
Ms. Noem wants to end the estate tax, believes guns should not be subject to federal regulation, and promised to maintain a 100% anti-abortion record in Congress.
Mr. Scott and Ms. Noem are among a handful of incoming Republicans whom the GOP leadership is promoting as faces of the new party ...
GOP leaders were quick to criticize Democrats for re-electing Pelosi, accusing the party of being tone-deaf to the message sent by voters in the midterms.
Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele issued a statement saying Democrats "chose to ignore the elections" and empower leaders who will continue "the same reckless, job-killing agenda that was just overwhelmingly rejected."
The Democratic old guard will try to hold the line Wednesday against a rank-and-file rebellion intent on winning some concession — no matter how small — from a leadership team seeking reelection despite having presided over the loss of at least 60 Democratic seats earlier this month.That's genuinely sad.
The leadership election follows on the heels of a brutally long, contentious and divisive leadership meeting Tuesday, and it will determine not only whether Speaker Nancy Pelosi remains the head of the House Democratic contingent but just how much authority she will wield in the new Congress come January.
Pelosi is in no real danger of losing her job as leader of the Democratic Caucus, but she is being challenged by a diffuse set of critics, dozens of whom believe she should step aside after her party’s defeat, others who hope to strip her power to appoint loyalists to positions of influence within the caucus and still others who simply want more time to reflect on whether endorsing the same set of leaders is the best course of action for a defeated minority.
The Democratic fissures were laid bare Tuesday as various factions engaged in open warfare with one another, both in private discussions among lawmakers and in behind-the-scenes efforts to influence the outcome of the leadership elections and related votes on how to choose the party leader’s top lieutenants.
Pelosi and the old power brokers who led Democrats back into the majority four years ago are not conceding that they might be culpable in the party’s downfall.
Behind closed doors, Pelosi argued to her troops Tuesday that she was demonized in Republican campaign ads precisely because she is the party’s political rainmaker.
“I know some of you suffered because of ads targeted to me,” she said, according to several sources in the room. “They had to take down the person who brings the resources.”
Her allies contend that she is the only one with the strategic skills, the vision, the touch with donors and the political muscle to lead the party back to the majority.
In the class of 2008, there were 11. Last Tuesday’s elections will send 33 small-business owners and entrepreneurs to Washington, according to The Agenda’s exhaustive (and exhausting) search. All are Republicans. Two are women.More here.
Fourteen of them have never held elective office before. Most of the rest, though, have served in their state legislatures — and some even led their chambers ...
President Obama must decide now how he wants to govern in the two years leading up to the 2012 presidential election.More commentary from Another Black Conservative and Allahpundit.
In recent days, he has offered differing visions of how he might approach the country's problems. At one point, he spoke of the need for "mid-course corrections." At another, he expressed a desire to take ideas from both sides of the aisle. And before this month's midterm elections, he said he believed that the next two years would involve "hand-to-hand combat" with Republicans, whom he also referred to as "enemies."
It is clear that the president is still trying to reach a resolution in his own mind as to what he should do and how he should do it.
This is a critical moment for the country. From the faltering economy to the burdensome deficit to our foreign policy struggles, America is suffering a widespread sense of crisis and anxiety about the future. Under these circumstances, Obama has the opportunity to seize the high ground and the imagination of the nation once again, and to galvanize the public for the hard decisions that must be made. The only way he can do so, though, is by putting national interests ahead of personal or political ones.
To that end, we believe Obama should announce immediately that he will not be a candidate for reelection in 2012.
If the president goes down the reelection road, we are guaranteed two years of political gridlock at a time when we can ill afford it. But by explicitly saying he will be a one-term president, Obama can deliver on his central campaign promise of 2008, draining the poison from our culture of polarization and ending the resentment and division that have eroded our national identity and common purpose.
We do not come to this conclusion lightly. But it is clear, we believe, that the president has largely lost the consent of the governed. The midterm elections were effectively a referendum on the Obama presidency. And even if it was not an endorsement of a Republican vision for America, the drubbing the Democrats took was certainly a vote of no confidence in Obama and his party. The president has almost no credibility left with Republicans and little with independents.
The best way for him to address both our national challenges and the serious threats to his credibility and stature is to make clear that, for the next two years, he will focus exclusively on the problems we face as Americans, rather than the politics of the moment - or of the 2012 campaign.
Quite simply, given our political divisions and economic problems, governing and campaigning have become incompatible. Obama can and should dispense with the pollsters, the advisers, the consultants and the strategists who dissect all decisions and judgments in terms of their impact on the president's political prospects.
Obama himself once said to Diane Sawyer: "I'd rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president." He now has the chance to deliver on that idea.
