Quick and Easy Ways to Sink President Obama's Approval Rating
Posted: Sunday, January 25, 2009
by Mogama
http://www.mogama.info
Approval rating of President-elect Barack Obama during his transition to the White House: nearly 80%.
King Solomon made it clear that
popularity is always a temporary phenomenon (Ecclesiastes 2:16;
4:16). Popularity or a high approval rating is never permanent
political capital.
Unless America's new President, Mr.
Barack Obama, is keenly aware of this, and unless he understands why
the people have entrusted him with so much people power, he may soon
be carried away like the chaff. There are certain quick and easy ways
the new president can shoot himself in the foot, and I'm afraid the
signs are showing already.
For one thing, too much coverage and
over-reporting by the mass media or mob media could produce Obama
fatigue much sooner than later. Whether motivated by old-fashioned
human jealousy or boldface annoyance, a law of popularity still
stands: Familiarity breeds contempt. And too much familiarity breeds
speedy contempt.
The President may fall out of favor
with the people if he is seen as taking an aggressive stance on the
abortion agenda. In this respect, he does himself a disservice by the
majority of Americans by making it one of his first orders of
presidential business by signing an executive order to rescind The Mexico Policy, the ban on
tax-payer funded abortions abroad. If he takes this same aggressive
push to pass FOCA, the Freedom Of Choice Act aka the abortion bill,
he will damage himself. President Obama must decide if he will become
America's first Abortion-In-Chief. Someone close to him needs to
whisper in his ears that the majority of Americans do not favor
abortion on demand, like Mr. Obama seems prepared to push.
Another sinker is the President's push
for the gay rights agenda. To satisfy his homosexual activist supporters, Mr. Obama may work with Democrats in Congress to repeal DOMA, the federal Defense Of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Again, most Americans oppose anything
resembling marriage, whether you call it civil union, between two men
or two women. President Obama would do himself a lot of good by at
least taking a neutral stance on radically liberal causes like
homosexual marriage and abortion on demand under the disguise of
civil rights, when these people know in their hearts that the
patriarchs of the civil rights movement never dreamed of abortion and
homosexuality as civil rights issues.
Lack of integrity anywhere in the
administration will drive the President's approval numbers down fast.
Something like nominating Timothy Geithner, a tax-cheat to head the
IRS may be the first shoe to fall in the integrity department. If an
ordinary American had done what Mr. Geithner did with his taxes, that
person would have probably suffered greater dire consequences, not be
rewarded with the top position in the agency that collects taxes.
Any national security flop that results
in a terrorist attack on American soil will do Mr. Obama great
political harm. Such an attack will highlight the contrast between
him and former President Bush, who claims to have averted every
terrorist attack on the homeland since September 11, 2001. Say, for
example, if the closing of the Guantanamo Prison produces a single
former Gitmo detainee who then participates in a serious act of
terrorism on American soil, or American interest abroad.
If this recessive economy does not show
signs of recovery in 12 to 18 months, President Obama's approval
rating will go the way of the Titanic. Our instant-coffee, microwave,
drive-thru society may not "hang in there" with the
President. This is not to justify Americans' short attention span. It
is simply a statement of reality that will impact Mr. Obama's
popularity.
Furthermore, President Obama may fall
out of favor with most Americans, if his solutions for the economy do
not enhance integrity, fair play, or business ethics on Wall Street,
and hands-on, ethical oversight by the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) and relevant committees in Congress. We may pump
hundreds of billions of dollars into the economy, but if the dealers
and wheelers on Wall Street and Capitol Hill remain greedy, corrupt
crooks, then what's really going to change for long term?
If the President and his ardent fans
doubt his honeymoon with America could be short lived, all they need
to do is track Mr. Obama's approval rating. Within just 3 days of
taking office, President Obama's approval had already tanked by
around 12 points, to 68%. Though that's towards the higher end of the
approval ratings of presidents in recent times, it's still a dramatic
plunge. Unless the President catches himself and goes moderate
especially on social/moral issues, he's in for a faster dip, very
likely below the 53% majority he won in the general elections.
Approval rating is such a big deal to this president, because Mr. Obama has sold himself as the leader of a movement, and a movement requires a vast mass of people to keep it alive. As a community organizer at heart, President Obama thrives on majority support for his agenda. Therefore anything he does to lower his popularity rating can be fatal to his prospects for success.
The popularity of a president can be compared to a parent giving a child some serious cash and saying, "Go shopping
but do so responsibly." If that child uses the money to buy stuff the
parent largely disapproves, that child is likely to get a big cut in
allowance.
For
any president of a democracy, a high approval rating equals huge
political capital. But how the president spends that political cash may
cause the people, the "parents" of democracy, to cut the president's allowance on their next visit
to the ballot box. The President may be the Commander-In-Chief, but the people are the Voters-In-Chief. It's very important for any currently popular president to keep that between and before his eyes everyday of his regime.
This is impossible. 48% of us did not vote for this person, so the 80% number was bogus to begin with. Congress is now at 14%.I think sending $500M overseas for 'abortions' is not going to help our economy and should tick people off pretty good. And approval ratings 'in Canada' do not count. They don't see the big picture, only what the sycophantic press is saying.I intended to give this article 5 stars and hit 1 by mistake.. I hope someone can fix that!You're quite right. President Obama may maintain a high approval rating internationally, but it's Americans who will vote again in 4 yours. His 99% approval rating in France won't mean squat. I hope he's keenly aware of that. Thanks for your input. ~mogama~
Mogama they now label him as centrist, really. You hit the nail on the head. I have been speaking to it for quite awhile now only one can't evidently say anything that is offensive. Well get over it I see no more then another man. Bush is gone, the Republicans are not in power and we got the same things they labeled him as a liberal going on. Yes and 82% of us say we believe. By the way I'll give you that 5 th star. This nation is no longer about truth and I know that first hand. Why, people have to face it. Good work, RobertHi there, Robert. I really want to give Mr. Obama a chance, but it ticks me off when, at this crucial point in our history, he thinks funding abortions overseas should be a first order of business for the President of the United States. That offends me, though I'm not one for making abortion a political football. I really thought everything else would be pushed aside except attack the rampant greed-driven debt problem, which is the cancer of our economy, and hurry up to end the Iraq War that's siphoning billions per month. Instead, we're getting political favors being doled out to abortionist and homosexual activist supporters of candidate Obama. I can even stomach the old Clinton crew, but prioritizing priority in the midst of economic meltdown is worse than troubling. I hope the man wakes up and stops this obsession with abortion and gay rights before he becomes the first failed black president. Thanks for your input; I respect you. ~mogama~mogama you are an honest intelligent person. The historical significance extremely important. However, I like you think we do a real disservice by electing some on race. Now these positions he has held high for years before and after being elected. It is what he knows, period. The rest, well who do your think really runs the show? Our family is interracial and we have many friends and family of mixed origins. We see only people. Yet sadly the vast majority trust and hope in him, and they are now finding out like everyone else he is not either black or white he is a Globalist. The world is his priority and he says it, he says it and he says it and then he follows up that with deeds. America, well for the have. It is reality, truth, fact and eventually as you will learn like I, those who support him will eventually drift away from your writings because you dare to be an honest intelligent person. It is what it is. Best regards, Robert.
As a concerned American citizen, I could care less about Mr. Obama's approval rating, now and forever. What I want from him is intelligent, bold action guided by the wisdom that Mr. Bush so evidently lacked. The Republicans have basically eviscerated this country, which is the reason most Americans are more than willing to give someone from outside of their clique a chance to right the ship. In fact, much of the goodwill that Obama currently enjoys is a direct result of the backlash against the abject failures of neoconservatism over the past decade.Already, Obama has reversed the myopic Bush moratorium on tightening air quality standards, and I expect only more progressive action from him in the future. If conservatives are opposed to these actions, well, I simply don't care. They gave away their right to lead through their inept stewardship of our country, and if they ever want to lead again, they need to address the myriad ills that plague their party. The fact that McCain won only a majority among white voters reflects the elitism and lack of inclusion practiced by the neoconservative leadership. Americans are tired of the hatred, racism and divisiveness that have become the bread and butter of Republican electoral strategy.Henceforth, history will regard the Bush years in much the same way it does the Harding/Coolidge years, as a lost era of corporatism and inept governance that led America into grand catastrophe. The Age of Obama has arrived, and not a moment too soon. Time to let the adults run things for a while.Thanks for your comment, Mike. You may not care about approval rating, because you're not a politician. Believe me, President Obama cares a lot about his approval rating. The approval rating has become the lifeblood of politics in a democracy, because it can make the difference between a single term and second term presidency. By the way, do you remember the only president in recent memory to say he cared less about his approval rating? You guessed it: George W. Bush. Why you may not give a hoot about Mr. Obama's approval rating, he does, and that's why he remains on the offensive. I like it that he's communicating a lot with the public, something Mr. Bush cared little about. I must admit you know how to express yourself very well in writing, as you've done here. ~mogama~
Obama used smoke and mirrors to get elected with the help of the national media and now he is trying to jam a huge spending plan loaded with pork down our throats with same tactics! He has baldface lied to the American people,and he will continue to do so! Because he has no PLAN!!You say Obama is lying? What's new about that? Isn't that what good American politicians do? They all "lie", only about different things -- some about sex, others about intelligence and war, others about the economy, etc, etc. Why do politicians lie to the American people? Because that's what the American people have responded to for years. When last did American voters give a win to a straight-talking, honest politician to elect that person as president? ~mogama~