How Obama's Adroit Symbolism Yields Sky-High Approval

President-elect Barack Obama delivers his weekly video/radio address on Christmas Eve, focusing on support for the US Armed Forces and hope for struggling Americans in the economic downturn, pointing to the inspiration of Washington's crossing of the Delaware during the American Revolution.

Well, President-elect Barack Obama has more than weathered a few highly-publicized controversies. He has the highest approval rating for a president-elect in decades. He's done it with a lot of good will from the campaign, and some adroit symbolism during the transition.

A CNN poll, released on Christmas Eve as Obama vacationed in longtime honeymoon spot Hawaii, shows increased, sky-high support for Obama's presidential transition.

The widely-publicized kerfuffles around Rod Blagojevich and Rick Warren haven't hurt a bit, as I anticipated, and Obama's political honeymoon has, if anything, intensified.

Eighty-two percent of those questioned in the poll approved of the way the Obama is handling his presidential transition. That's up three points from when the question was asked at the beginning of December. Fifteen percent of those surveyed disapproved of the way Obama's handling his transition, down three points from the last poll.

The 82 percent approval is higher than the rating of then President-elect George W. Bush, who had a 65 percent transition approval rating eight years ago, and that of Bill Clinton, who was at 67 percent during the same period at the end of 1992.

Barack Obama introduced his highly-regarded scientific leadership team.

"Barack Obama is having a better honeymoon with the American public than any incoming president in the past three decades. He's putting up better numbers, usually by double digits, than Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, or either George Bush on every item traditionally measured in transition polls," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

Obama completed the fastest Cabinet appointments in 40 years, and is now off on a working vacation in his native Hawaii. He floated through two teapot tempests. One in which the far right flipped out, so-called Blagogate, and another in which some on the left, frustrated at an avoidable defeat on same-sex marriage, forgot about the center part of center/left and got very exercised about a guy who is reciting a prayer.

Barack Obama introduced his secretaries of labor, a strong liberal from LA, and transportation, a Republican from Illinois.

The far right flipping out about Obama is nothing new. Nor, I suppose, is a lot of the media going along for the ride. The media loves controversy, deep or otherwise, as it's easier than dealing with deeper issues.

So how has Obama -- a state senator just four years ago -- pulled this off?

Barack Obama introduced top members of his energy and environmental team.

** First off, he and his operation look and sound quite competent. He and his advisors picked his Cabinet in an expeditious manner. Most view the appointees as capable and impressive. If one or two were disturbingly close to the Wall Street scene as it was about to melt down and failed to sound the alarm about the extreme dangers of rocket-science high finance, well, perhaps they know best how to fix the folly. Perhaps.

** Obama has maintained a regular, reassuring presence. In a tumultuous time, even though he's not president yet, Obama has made many public appearances, coming off as composed and thoughtful, promising action on the way.

** He also comes across as more accessible than he is. He's had a lot of press conferences, but doesn't take many questions. But the ones he does take he answers, or seems to. In any event, voters have a mixed view of the media, whose priorities are frequently different than theirs.

** Obama chose a good vacation spot. Despite efforts by some in the media and the Republican opposition to make an issue of Obama vacationing in Hawaii earlier in the year after locking up the Democratic presidential nomination, it's a popular choice. Hawaii is a highly favored tourist destination, for obvious reasons. And Obama is actually from Hawaii. When he goes there, he's going home. He's not only going to a place which many Americans have visited -- the setting for beloved old TV shows like Magnum, PI and Hawaii Five-O -- he's going to the place where he grew up.

** Which brings up another plus for Obama in his transition, his Hawaiian-ness. Obama is a bundle of firsts wrapped in one package. One that's little remarked upon is that he's the first president born and raised in Hawaii.

Obama, his wife Michelle, and their daughters Malia and Sasha, are celebrating the holidays in Kailua, where they're staying in a rented beachfront home. Kailua is a Windward Oahu town, a half-hour drive from the relative bustle of Honolulu. I've driven there, down the Pali Highway, then through a tunnel and out again to confront a beautiful panoramic view dominated by ocean and some of the best beachfront in the world.

Every day, Obama gets his classified intelligence/national security briefing. In that setting, it's easier to approach even the most distressing news with Zen-like composure. Hawaii is an easy-going state, with many influences. While Obama needed to learn the bare-knuckles politics of Chicago in order to become president, it may be that the Hawaiian background is what will sustain him over the long haul.

** Obama's not the "Manchurian Candidate."

You remember all that mumbo-jumbo during the campaign, and even after amongst bitter-enders, about Obama not being a real American. It was a pernicious web of silliness, all the more so for its viciousness. I wrote about it here on the Huffington Post over two months ago.

Because Obama is not a white man, because he has an unusual name, because he has an unusual background, and because there is what I'll be writing about as the (Diss)Loyal Opposition, it will keep percolating throughout his presidency. But, like his trip during the campaign to the Middle East and Europe, when Obama seemed very at ease amongst American soldiers and generals and every international leader he met, his Christmas and New Year's vacation is further driving home the point that he's every bit as American as anyone else in this country.

His weekly video/radio speech released on Christmas Eve focused on support for the US Armed Forces serving abroad and their families at home, and hope for struggling Americans in the economic downturn, pointing to the inspiration of George Washington's Christmas crossing of the Delaware during the American Revolution.

And every day, Obama works out at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, at ease with the Marines he meets there. But the memorial service for his late grandmother, whose ashes he scattered in the Pacific last week, was at a Unitarian church famed for serving as a sanctuary for sailors and soldiers protesting the Vietnam War.

It's a big, diverse, sometimes disagreeable country. So far, Obama is honoring its nature to the satisfaction of its voters.

You can check things out during the day on my site, New West Notes ... www.newwestnotes.com

Comments

[pollwatcher123]

And don't forget this: He actually has GOOD IDEAS. He suggests protecting pension plans when Companies file Bankruptcy. He suggests that instead of overregulating consumers to the point of indentured servitude, we should instead place greater oversight and regulation on the rapacious corporations that have trampled upon the consumers and employees - aka, American Citizens.

He also proposed changing "free trade" into FAIR trade. Tax cuts for American companies that create AMERICAN jobs, instead of tax breaks for offshoring. He has shown a depth of economic insight in his "bottom up" theory as opposed to the 30-year old mistake of "trickle-down" economics.

Give this guy some time, and he will be the Most beloved President in American history. He has the tragic backdrop of the current crises plaguing America to deal with. Either he will be defeated by forces beyond his control -- or he will overcome them and lead America to fulfill its dreams of equality, liberty, JUSTICE for ALL, FAIRNESS in the pursuit of prosperity, and a MORAL beacon for the world.

But everything else in the article above -- I agree with all that too.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

Thanks and ... Perhaps.

[MattinChicago]

Too funny. You're all patting yourself on the back and smuggly congratulating each other on how smart you are for choosing Obama, but you forget that he hasn't done anything yet... Hell, he isn't even President yet!

You might just want to wait at least until after he is in Office before you decide that he is the best president ever! You can't write history before it has happened.

With self-congratulatory "friends" like you all... I am beginning to regret my vote.

[ScooterLiddy]

And who did you vote for? I'm guessing McCain...

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

I would bet a fair amount you didn't vote for Obama.

[Teritt]

I am a very loyal Obama supporter. I believe in his message that we are more alike than we seem, and it's better to be united than divided. That said, my biggest worry is that old adage - what goes up, must come down. Anyone who has those sorts of favorability numbers only has one way to go. I just hope there are many, many more like me that will stay loyal when that starts to happen. No matter how highly we think of his character or intellect or whatever, the man inherited the biggest mess in my lifetime and it isn't going to be easy, folks. So please remember that when the honeymoon is over, the GOP stops licking it's wounds, and the crap hits the fan.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

Of course the numbers will come down.

[apoyo]

Sad that a man born and raised in America has to convince people that he is American.

[Nitalia]

Yeah, I wouldn't convince them of anything. GWB has proven to be the most un-American President in History. He cared more about rebuiling Iraq than he cared about advancing America and no one has dared to test his Americanism.

American or not, Obama is the American President-Elect!

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

We all have to show our bona fides from time to time.

Obama didn't have to do much, as it happens.

[walk0nwalls]

"Obama, his wife Michelle, and their daughters Malia and Sasha, are celebrating the holidays in Kailua, where they're staying in a rented beachfront home. Kailua is a Windward Oahu town, a half-hour drive from the relative bustle of Honolulu. I've driven there, down the Pali Highway, then through a tunnel and out again to confront a beautiful panoramic view dominated by ocean and some of the best beachfront in the world."

DAMN YOU

Now I want to go back

*missing Hawaii*

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

Indeed!

[MissionaryPosition]

You can please some of the people all of the time;
You can please all of the people some of the time, but,
You cannot please all the people all of the time.

For God's sake, give the guy some slack. He hasn't taken the (tarnished) mantle yet. And don't set your expectations too high or you're guaranteed to be disappointed.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

He just needs to keep above a level far below where he is now.

[laurentyvan]

May I just say how much better I sleep through the night with Obama as President-Elect.
It affects my waking mood as I throughput the daily barrage of information from the various media(s) and I ask myself, how would Obama handle that or, what would he say in response.
I'm no blind follower, but with him, I'm temped...

[wallyone]

Don't forget Obama"s youthful image. I love the way he bounds up the steps to get on an airplane. And I love the way he carries his own small bag. Many great symbols that he projects with aplomb. A political genius!!

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

Good point.

[brandon102]

Yes, I certainly learned just about everything from the symbolism of his showcasing an anti-Semitic, mysocynistic, anti-rationality and anti-LGBT speaker at his inauguration. I won't know if he's a complete phony or just tackling the harder issues of inclusion until he honors a White Supremacist in such a fashion.

Then we'll know. Inclusion, or just feeling the need to shave a few fundamentalist points in the next election?

[vjoseph]

I feel like slapping you in the face with your supremacist crap

[JimR]

Don't worry! Obama is also making education reform a priority, so soon the resources will be available for you to learn! Then maybe you can catch up with the rest of us.

[Ethics101]

Hold your enemies close.
Nice tolerance you're practicing bud.
HTF is that going to change YOUR world?

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

Well, if you want to seize on a negative point, you will.

Rick Warren really isn't very important.

As the vast majority of the American people understand.

[kshawNCvoter]

God bless America and God bless our incoming President. Happy New Year everybody.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

Happy New Year!

[freelyb]

But,

He's culling quite a bit of approval from the 47% that were willing to consider Palin as POTUS. Those approval ratings will change if he does anything meaningful from a more liberal perspective. The idiots have taken him as a blissful hostage. AND I still don't trust either party in Congress not to muddy the waters in some way. Anyway, rahr, rahr, rahr..... That stimulus package better be pretty damned power-packed in the right ways.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

You don't know much about politics -- and what you think you know isn't very helpful -- if you choose to believe that 47% of the voters are idiots.

[arcticterrier]

Not terribly hard to be "popular" when you have done, essentially, NOTHING, during what far too many want to call a career. Everyone screws up from time to time but if you haven't ever really done anything other than run a slick campaign it isn't terribly hard to be popular.

I wish the man the best, because he is the President to be of my nation, even though I fear the worst based on what he has said and who he has surrounded himself with. I hope I am wrong but I fear an empty suit, empty head, no spine, and no appreciation for the Constitution. Though, as a Libertarian, I haven't seen much of the latter for the past 40 years.

An MTV president elect for an MTV generation. Mr. Franklin, paraprhasing others said it well when he said "What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right." Unfortunately, our president elect has no record to decide which way he will go. Voting "present" as much as he did doesn't give one much to go on.

[aOsO]

Your way of thinking is exactly why Obama is President and why he's so popular. Keep attacking him and he'll keep proving you wrong.

[BottomLine2008]

What on earth are you going on about?!

You're still stuck in your fantasy world of the campaign.

>>>>I wish the man the best, because he is the President to be of my nation, even though I fear the worst based on what he has said and who he has surrounded himself with.

[2sunny]

I don't know what "planet your on", but come back to Earth!
And together we will shoulder in a new history...­......Peac­e my fellow American.

[LiberTLover]

Wow. Being a civil rigths lawyer for 11 years is nothing. Being a Constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago for 12 years is nothing. Being a community organizer for 3 years is nothing. Being an Illinois state senator for 7 years is nothing. Being a US senator for 3 years is nothing. Please enlighten us as to your sterling accomplishments to which compared to his are something. And you may want to try reading the entire Constitution, and not just the bits that say what you like.

[JTCan]

nicely put...than­k you. All those complaining and doubting Obama....n­ot one has come up with a better soulution.­..or ANY solution for that matter.

[arcticterrier]

A lawyer...t­here is a praiseworthy profession

community organizer.­..what exactly is that anyway

professor.­...good. let's hope the ivy on his tower didn't obscure his view of the world

elected official..­.ranks right up there with lawyer...e­specially in Chicago

me...nothi­ng to brag about and nothing that compares to his on paper. Master of History and teacher of the subject, principal (35 years total in education), and a plumber to pay for the education. Nothing to brag about at all, pretty pedestrian really. And, though you doubtful care, there are five framed pages on the wall of my office...o­ne is the Declaration of Independence and the others are all the articles of the Constitution.

Of no importance at all but since you asked there is the answer.

[trebo12]

What talking point has the right wing left you with that makes you believe Obama (a constitutional law professor) has no appreciation for the Constitution? I didn't hear this one...

Arcticterrier, let go of the rights campaign talking points. They were all bogus and from the way he's picked his cabinet so far, even most republicans are seeing they were probably wrong...be­tter yet, do yourself a service and pick up Obama's 'Audacity Of Hope' so you can see how the man REALLY thinks...

God Bless

[PippiLongstocking]

The talking point in his head.

[billbb]

After the Bush disasters, mere competence would go a long way.

With smart people who have flashes of real insight, this could be a very promising administration. Obama is clearly not afraid to converse with the truly intelligent, unlike president what's-his-name, who never seemed smart enough to have an intelligent conversation with a Wal-Mart greeter.

The worst thing for Bush is that a well-run and competent administration will make the contrast with his wrecking crew all the more apparent. With all the other foul-ups, W now proves he's just about as lousy at the whole legacy thing as his father was.

[BottomLine2008]

Benevolent competence vs. malign incompetence. A good contrast.

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

Competence is revolutionary.

[aOsO]

Well put, the more the media and right wing tries to take him down, the more popular he becomes with the public.

[arcticterrier]

The media made Obama and the media will take him down the first chance they get. Media is all about ratings. The public have proven their sheeplike tendencies far too many times.

How about this...the president elect is given a chance to succeed or fail on his own policies and leadership or lack thereof. He hasn't actually had to do the job yet for which he was elected.

As for the public..th­ey there were, at one time, wild about segregation, Indian removal, isolationism in the face of facism, and McCarthyism.

Before the man is cannonized how about we let him actually have some time to do his job. Lord knows he hasn't anything to hang his hat on yet.

[aOsO]

The media made Obama and the media will take him down the first chance they get.
__________­__________­__________­__________­__________­____

The media tried to take him down with Rev. Wright, Rezko, Ayers, Bitter-gate, Muslim-gate, terrorist-gate, socialist-gate, presumtuious-gate, uppity-gate, noblackenough-gate, cantwinwhi­tevote-gat­e, and he's still here. The electorate that elected President Obama is an evolved one.

[BottomLine2008]

Just keep telling yourself that.

For the next eight years.

[citadelgrrl05]

where have you been captain obvious, the media tried to destroy the man, and he keeps coming back..he had a whole news network trying to destroy him..yeah Fix news, and how many times did we see rev. wright sermons, and hear bitter gate tapes..oh please keep your right wing propoganda on townhall

[timm553]

Before you vilify the man, "how about we let him actually have some time to do his job."

[tigerakabj]

Uh huh. You call 2 straight months of Rev-Wright, flagpin-gate, socialist, marxist, terrorist, bitter-gate, etc. from the media them helping Obama out? The media tries their best to take him down. They know full well when he talks about cleaning up Washington, he's also talking about them too.

[vjoseph]

Well said William

[William Bradley - Huffpost Blogger]

Thank you.