As he heads for the debt-limit showdown with Republicans, President Obama cannot be comforted by the latest Gallup Poll that shows him trailing the generic Republican presidential candidate by five percentage points. Republicans won't vote for him; Obama has lost support among Independents and has alienated many Democrats. What happened?
Fortunately for Obama, there is no "generic" Republican presidential candidate; the GOP isn't offering vanilla but instead varieties of tutti-frutti. Head to head the president leads each of the announced candidates including Romney and Bachmann. But that shouldn't cause observers to discount his drooping poll numbers. The president has a problem that may thwart his reelection bid.
One explanation is the "The Great Recession," where unemployment hovers around 9 percent and millions of Americans are without meaningful work. Nonetheless, while voters grumble about Obama's handling of the economy, they understand that he inherited a gigantic mess from the Bush administration. A recent McClatchey/Marist poll found that 61 percent of respondents blame Republicans for the economic malaise. Obama's problem is deeper.
When Barack Obama was elected president, many of us -- the 53 percent of the electorate who voted for him -- had extremely high expectations. Over 31 months our hopes have diminished. As a consequence, Liberals now routinely castigate the president on a wide range of issues.
The president's handling of the economy has provoked the most criticism. Writing in New York magazine, retired Times columnist Frank Rich blasted Obama "for the stunning lack of accountability for the greed and misdeeds that brought America to its gravest financial crisis since the Great Depression." As a consequence, "a [large] share of the American electorate views him as a tool of the very fat-cat elite that despises him." "By failing to address that populist anger, Obama gave his enemies the opening to co-opt it and turn it against him. Which the tea party did, dishonestly but brilliantly..."
Scarcely a week goes by without one of the big three liberal economists -- Paul Krugman, Robert Reich, and Joseph Stiglitz -- lambasting the president. Recently New York Times columnist Krugman lamented that Obama's campaign slogan "Yes, we can" had become "No, we won't."
It's hard to find any major Democratic constituency that is happy with President Obama. Many Americans are dissatisfied with his handling of the war in Afghanistan; they believe he chose to escalate when common sense called for withdrawal. Lawyers are concerned with the Department of Justice's handling of suspected terrorists and the failure to close Guantanamo prison. Feminists are aggrieved by policies that have led to a diminution of services to women and children. Environmentalists are concerned about the Obama administration's failure to aggressively address Global Climate Change. And on and on.
What happened? Frank Rich complains about Obama's "passivity." Others grumble the supposedly great communicator has failed to control the political narrative -- as is currently the case where the discussion in Washington centers on the Republican theme, "reduce the deficit," when it should be on "increase the number of good jobs." Writing in the New York Review, Yale Professor David Bromwich observed, "Obama has always preferred the symbolic authority of the grand utterance to the actual authority of a directed policy... protracted moods of extreme abstraction seem to alternate with spasmodic engagement."
Not surprisingly, there's recently been a spate of articles "psychoanalyzing" the president. Writing in the New Yorker, George Packer observed that Obama "takes responsibility as an end in itself." In his blog, Packer explained, "there something in Obama's character that needs to be seen as reasonable -- as the one grown-up -- in the room -- and that is deeper than any partisan policy views he might hold."
Out here on the left coast, we don't need to resort to psychoanalysis to agree on two things: First, in 2009 President Obama bungled a historic opportunity to fix America's financial system. He failed to break up the too-big-to-fail banks, hold Wall Street speculators accountable, and, in general, bring fairness to the economy.
Second, Barack Obama has not been the leader we expected. He is competent but not transformational. He is responsible but not a visionary.
The core of our dissatisfaction may stem from what initially attracted us -- the notion of Obama being the first black president of the United States. Those of us who value the civil rights movement saw Obama's election as the culmination of an epic struggle featuring American heroes like Sojourner Truth and Martin Luther King, Jr. We were inspired by Barack's soaring oratory and believed he would care more about social justice. We expected him to be a hero.
Now we recognize that Barack Obama is a realist, not an idealist. We understand that above all else, he is a politician. In 2008, Americans elected the black Bill Clinton -- without the sex addiction. That's better than electing a generic Republican, but still a big disappointment.
Bill Schneider: Will Republicans Get Obama Re-Elected?
Robert P. Jones, Ph.D.: Obama and Romney's Faith Perception Problem
 |
 |
|
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Electoral Votes (270 to win) |
332 | 206 |
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 65,899,660 | 60,932,152 |
| Percent | 51.1% | 47.2% |
| Democrats* | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Current Senate | 53 | 47 |
| Seats gained or lost | +2 | -2 |
| New Total | 55 | 45 |
| Democrats | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Seats won | 201 | 234 |
How about his support of GMO foods? How about his lack of inspiration? He could have started a massive reforestation program that would have had all environmentalists screaming with joy. He is just an employee meant to buy some more time for his handlers (ahem...the people that own the FED?)
Seems there's no pleasing some people.
I still support our President.
Many conservatives defend the death penalty as a deterrent, yet we are to allow successful politicians and wealthy fund managers to operate above the law? They need a deterrent also, they certainly won't behave when they have nothing to lose and billions to gain .
Instead Obama has put these criminals into his administration
Dogmatic is what the Repubs are.....I would much rather have a realist.
Where I agree is that he does not passionaltely argue the realist point of view! What I don't like is he is a "politician"....he has the bully pulpit, but he doesn't seem to use it for his realist agenda!
Why doesn't he do it?
He is unable to do this. He is an intellectual, not a PR spokesperson. But explaining policies to the pubic really is the main job of the President. He could be saying "The debt is caused by the unheard of low rates of tax on millionaires/billionaires. We will raise their taxes to where they were in the past when the economy did great. The economy tanked because millionaires/billionaires stopped paying tax so we will reverse this trend"
Why is he always so vague and wishy washy?
If anything, he's dummied it down rather well and showing how ridiculous the GOP is.
I gave up last year and left America behind. I see the right wing machine taking the USA into a nose dive for their own purposes with nothing to stop them.
The Dems want him to stand up for our Agenda and put the Republicans in a corner.
That's what we need from a Leader and the more Obama caves, the more votes he loses.
Heartbreaking because he is so capable yet hates confrontation and therefore caves.
Nothing. President Barack Obama is the same man I voted for in 2008, and will for in 2012. Some people are so short-sighted. It's rather silly of one to think this president can miraculously turn around the mess President Bush gifted us with. This problem President Obama is dealing with Is not of his making. The corporate problem started with President Reagan and continued under Presidents Bush-41 and Clinton. Under President Bush-43, the corporations grew into the Alien monster along with other headaches President Bush-43 helped create. Now, these problems didn't start when President Obama walked in the White House, so let's stop pretending they did.
As for the expectation that the first black president would be a "hero," why would that be the case? He is a person, not a deity. Also, it would be helpful to consider how his status as the first black president might have contributed to the enthusiasm of his opponents.