Dear Republicans: You Lost. Get Over It.

A recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll got attention for its analysis of Barack Obama's huge popularity. But some very interesting other numbers slipped through the cracks. They point out the problems that Republicans face in their seemingly never-ending attempt to throw mud at President-elect Obama and shoot themselves in the foot..

Headlines explained that 73% of Americans approve how Mr. Obama is handling the transition, and that 67% felt "very or somewhat positive" about him.

Some Republicans, however, have tried to minimize this, dismissively contending that all new presidents have high numbers. There are two flaws with this position. The first is that Barack Obama isn't even president yet. The second is that the poll shows that while presidents do start with positive approvals, they are not generally at the elevated levels Mr. Obama has already reached.

This is where some of those under-reported figures start to come into play.

The especially-high opinion of Barack Obama has little to do with any traditional honeymoon period. Since the election, yes, 38% say their opinion of Mr. Obama has become more favorable. However, prior to Bill Clinton's swearing-in in 1992, that number was just 28%. (No comparison was available for George Bush.)

Indeed, as the WSJ/NBC poll notes, the nation "is more unified around Mr. Obama than it was for either Bill Clinton in 1992 or George W. Bush in 2000." In fact, it's double. Polls showed that 52% believe the coming year will be one of national unity. Under George Bush, it was only 27%.

While 42% said that newly-elected Bill Clinton "had the right set of goals," it is 12 points higher for Barack Obama.

Another striking comparison is the public's reaction to Mr. Obama's appointments. Here, 67% of Americans are "generally pleased" with the president-elect's choices. Yet both George Bush and Bill Clinton in their first terms, the number was 13 points lower.

Americans believe Barack Obama's personal characteristics to be president are 17 points higher than when Bill Clinton first took office.

All these results show the problem with being unwilling to accept the result of national elections and continuing to sling mud. It's one thing to attack a politician on politics. Mention "George Bush," and Democrats will line up to criticize his policies on the economy, Iraq, global warming, torture, domestic spying, the environment, and more. With the Republicans and Barack Obama, however, they are just attempting empty smears that the public has repeatedly shown its disdainful lack of interest - whether that mud is Ayers, Wright, Blagojevich or birth certificates. What they miss is that this "honeymoon" popularity for Barack Obama is something that has existed for two years, and grown.

But there's something more to the point -

The nation has HUGE problems to resolve, and the American public vibrantly wants Barack Obama to succeed - as one hopes Republicans do, as well - because it understands that America cannot afford its downward spiral for another four years.

Simply put, Americans love to support their president.

Consider how George Bush squeaked by in his 2000 election, even losing the popular vote. Yet his approval instantly leaped to 90% after 9/11 - for no reason other than America faced a challenge. And America kept supporting him despite all logic. Only after his actions were clearly driving the nation seriously off-track (as three-quarters of the country now says), did his approval plummet to its current 25%.

So, if Republicans want to throw only pointless mud at the nation's incoming president in a time of grave problems, when the nation wants its leader to succeed, during his honeymoon, with his growing two-year popularity at an all-time high, they run a suicidal risk of making the hole they've already dug deeper.

It's inexplicable that, during economic crisis and two wars, Republicans seem to be blindly following Karl Rove (architect of their last two crushing defeats) into a bizarre effort to challenge the nomination of Eric Holder as Attorney General...all over the minutiae of a pardon. Forgetting that if anyone shouldn't draw attention to a questionable pardon, it's Karl Rove - and forgetting, also, the attention it brings to George Bush's criminally-politicized Justice Department - amid a Democratic-controlled Senate, this is the political equivalent of being on death row and using your last quarter to buy sparkly confetti rather than make a phone call to your attorney.

And this is where several of the other more buried poll questions come into play, that point to the depth of the problems Republicans face.

Republicans have long held to the one thin reed of hope by trumpeting how Congress's approval is even lower than George Bush's. (Boy, that's something to promote ...!) But this has always struck me as a fool's wish. What the country doesn't like about this Congress, I've suggested, is not "both parties," but that it can't act because Republicans keep blocking issues that can help the nation.

And the WSJ/NBC polls finally confirms that assumption.

It's true that only 21% approve of Congress, lower than George Bush. But - when asked about their reaction to the two political parties, the truth hits the surface:

Over half of America, 52%, has a "very or somewhat negative" view of the Republican Party. Worse, and shockingly, only 7% of Americans feel "very positive" about the Republican Party! (This is exactly the same as Rod Blagojevich's approval rating. Honest.)

On the other hand, only 28% feel "very or somewhat negative" towards Democrats. And 49%, have a "very or somewhat positive" view.

If Republicans wish to believe that Americans dislike Congress merely because it is Congress, they are seriously mistaken. If Republicans wish to believe that we live in a center-right nation, they are seriously mistaken. And people who live a life seriously mistaken can only continue to drive in the wrong direction. It is only when you have a clear view of who you are - and acknowledge your problems - that you can correct your problems.

Case in point.

Many far-right conservatives like to hold out the mantra that Sarah Palin is the future of the Republican Party.

The WSJ/NBC poll shows that only 32% of Americans have a "very or somewhat positive" view of George Bush. This is a man so wildly unpopular that his own party avoided even mentioning him during the campaign. That's 32%. For Sarah Palin - the number is 35%.

If you keep ignoring reality, that's the dismal "future" you head towards.

One final, buried number in the poll. For all the effort Republicans made trying to smear Michelle Obama as not being proud of America, the poll asked if Michelle Obama was a good role model.

The public said, "Yes," - 69% to 16%.

This is what happens to Republicans when your party doesn't live in that pesky Reality-based world. This is what happens when all you have to throw is emptiness. America has real problems to deal with. Americans want serious answers.

And Americans have loudly explained the direction they want to go.

Comments

[jsgaetano]

Republican's only solution to problems is the fail bigger and fail harder.

They snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in Afghanistan (using Clinton's "broken" military, no less!)... then cut and run so they could fail (quite lucratively) in Iraq.

Conservatives have spent almost a century whinging about the New Deal. So their prefered solution was to finally deregulate America right back into another Great Depression.

Now... conservatives would rather see America end up as a failed state than allow even a single unionized laborer in the US. They simply will not stop until they bring us back to the age of indentured servants... at which point they can easily push it over into a full-on slave state.

Conservatives aren't problem solvers, or a "party of ideas". Conservatives are hatemongers who can only look backward, and pine for "glory days" of the worst times in America's history.

[drvck70]

While you dance over the trainwreck of the marginalized GOP be sure to pay no attention to the three-headed ideological hydra that exists within the Democratic party. While you childishly proclaim "We Win You Lose" you probably haven't even noticed the GOP has crept into the democratic party via the conservative southern democrat. Sawdust bread tastes the same whether one is registered (D) or (R) and depending on which economists' view you subscribe to we are ALL within a year or two of becoming intimate with the taste. The time for this partisan bs is over, and it's getting quite old, we sink or swim together, boths side of the aisle, if you don't get it then maybe you should have just left this page blank or go on vacation.

[drjay79]

We have all seen how the republican "conservative" agenda has worked out, no thanks.

[BSERIUS]

Robert , in your whole column of alleged mudslinging you only mention Holder... Yet directly across from your article there is a HUFF ariitcle written by a Huff writer pointing out the problems of Holder. The republicans are not the ones slinging mud , it seems that team Obama with its choosing of old status quo Clintonista types and Emmanuel and Axelrod and the rest of Ilinois Democrats are doing just fine

[WolfLady]

Hey, I think it's great. Let the crazed GOP go goose-stepping over a cliff into long-overdue oblivion. Then the rest of the country can get back to de-fouling the nest.

~WolfLady~

[Paradym]

It seems to me, especially reading some of the posts and comments here and elsewhere, that the real issue is the continuing "us versus them" perspective. Mr. Elisberg is spot on in regards to in-party dynamics, but the only way to get the neo-conservative mud slinging to finally stop is through inclusion, not divisiveness. No matter how distasteful some, or all, of the positions of the far right are, continually pushing back with as much force only fuels their fire.

We all need to come to the realization that we are all Americans, we're all in this together. Civil discourse, not ferocious knife throwing, will guide us to consensus and move us toward problem solving. Animosity towards a differing opinion doesn't allow for concession. We need to chastise our representatives whenever they revert to sleaze, name calling, or in any way take their eye off the ball of resolving our nation's issues. Especially those representatives that we voted for and support. It's up to us to end divisive politics, and we can do that by not stonewalling the more radical positions but by letting them have their voice, countering with reason and evidence and consensus.

And I hate to get on the bandwagon, but we also need to hold the press accountable for not reporting facts and for giving attention to nonsense issues. Time for us all to grow up and bring this country back to adulthood.

[chefrasta]

The republican party is a disease and like all diseases it has to be eradicated if the body politic is to survive

[SeriousBlack]

"So, if Republicans want to throw only pointless mud at the nation's incoming president in a time of grave problems, when the nation wants its leader to succeed, during his honeymoon, with his growing two-year popularity at an all-time high, they run a suicidal risk of making the hole they've already dug deeper."

They can't help themselves. Poor pathetic creatures. That's what happens when you cannot recognize and/or deal with reality.

[Wake-up]

The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.

-Thomas Jefferson

And I add website news, I think Tom would approve...

[research]

The GOP hasn't lost yet.

If the Dems will not assert their power, the GOP will win.

The GOP will obstruct to the the maximum possible.

Will the Dems have the guts to nuke the filibuster?

God help us.

[Senzasord]

I don't think the Democrats have to nuke the filibuster. All they have to do is insist on it. Make those Republicans really have to do it. If they are giong to tie up the Congress, then there will be consequences to be paid. Force them to stand day after day hour after hour, droning on about nothing all for the benefit of C-Span cameras. Let the American people see exactly what a filibuster is. Make them have to soil themselves in front of the whole nation. All the while gathering great footage to be used in the next Senatorial campaign by whatever Democrtatic challenger comes along. Do that three or four times and those loud mouthed bowhards will think twice before they threaten fulibuster. I truly wonder how many of these Republican senators have ever really had to filibuster for real, not just threaten to do it.

[research]

The dems must be READY to nuke the filibuster.

[MissKaren]

When kaka is all you have to throw, you throw it. The fact that Obama is totally unaffected by it bothers them not. The fact that they are being mocked by their few real intellectuals troubles them not. Fine, let them throw the detritus and watch them sink in their own ammo.

[GeorgeP922]

I think Republicans are the least of our worries.

Your statement should read "Democrats, you won in 2006 and 2008, grow a spine already"

Ok, I understood the cowering in fear, the shaking of knees, the tremor in voices everytime Bush spoke.

I get it, weak Democrats lacking substance were afraid they would lose election in 06 and 08. Well we won and increaded majority and electoral votes in record breaking numbers.

We did so well, yet we have a Democratic party eating itself alive.

Im not going to bother even mentioning the "Liberal Media/Blogs" that spend every day smearing Democrats because it's an easier story with no blowback,

I am going to mention the Democrats who forgot they are in the party of power and are still crawling hands and knees for republicans.

We got that congressman that asked for torture and illegal wiretapping to continue (forgot his name).

We have Leahy who speaks for the WHOLE country by saying Bush will never stand war crimes trial here, no matter how terrible the evidence.

We have Evan Bayh, best friend to his long time Advisor and mentor Mark Penn trying in the middle of a transition to create a conservative delegation within the Democratic Caucus. I guess it doesn't bother him one bit if the other "segments" of the party have any club house closed door meetings.

continued.............

[Charmed]

I don't think the republicans are honest enough to recognize what the truth is. Today they are discussing if it's okay to use Obama's middle name now since he is going to use it during the swearing in. They even went as far to say.....well if he can use it we should be able to use it, like if they can use the n-word, we should be able to use it. Makes no sense at all.

[DrBuzz]

Brilliant (as usual...)!!! And while many may be reluctant to put their nose in "it" (BAD republican! BAD Republican!), you did it with laser-sharp efficiency.

I remember when Bush won in 2000, one of my friends (yes, it happens) told me to "get over it". Now you have a TRUE majority, a TRUE mandate, and all you hear is absolute blather from them. I applaude those Republicans that recognize this (even McCain and Gingrich... did ***I*** say that? I'm still waiting for their apologies to the country!), and look to the time when detractors and distractors finally realize that there are more serious issues facing the country than what they see on Faux News.

Bravo, Robert!

[obamagirl1968]

Thank you for pointing out the numbers of reality vs the fantasies of the Repugs!