February 16, 2010

52% of Americans think Obama doesn't deserve to be reelected.

According to a CNN poll.

And look at this: Indonesians protested a statue — financed by donations — of the child Barack Obama that had been erected in a public park. The thing had to be moved.

55 comments:

MossyMo said...

You voted for him, Ann.

traditionalguy said...

The other 48% must not have been home when the pollsters called.

Sloanasaurus said...

It's only going to get worse for Obama and the dems as unemployment won't bottom until the end of the year.

Still removing his statue already is pretty brutal. That's always the downside to getting a statue... At some point it will be taken down

kentuckyliz said...

The Child Obama?

That makes me think of Ricky Bobby, who liked to pray to the Baby Jesus

Anonymous said...

Such widespread discontent creates an opening for a talented public figure to think BIG. Nobody's expecting her to up the ante, although they ought to expect it for both historical reasons – it has been done before – and for reasons of her personality. While most ponder the patheticness of poll numbers with academic detachment, she sleeps soundly, dreaming of purple and the day she can declare "Alea iacta est!"

traditionalguy said...

JRH...I really think Professor Althouse is happy to stay in Madison with her new husband. Otherwise you might be right.

jag said...

Obama is too big to fail. The first African American President will be reelected.

Sprezzatura said...

As soon as I saw this post I wandered over to Drudge because it sounded Drudgy.

Sure enough.

So blatantly ripping off (and not adding to) content is a little tacky don't ya think? And, not even a hat tip. Shame.

Anonymous said...

I will stand up for Althouse early in this thread: she detailed her reasons for "why McCain lost" her. I don't remember any of those reasons but, in retrospect, McCain was a terrible, terrible candidate in a terrible, terrible year for the Republican brand.

Moreover, Democrats would have gotten a lot more done under the McCain administration and McCain, now freed from his presidential ambitions once and for all, is back to being a solid centrist senator.

Peter V. Bella said...

People have finally awaken form their hopium and changium stupors. They realize the suit has no man.

They realize the Party is the party of hatred. It is the party of tyranny. It is not the party of the people.

Though foggy and hungover, the people are finally braking through their narcotic cobwebs. Reality is setting in.

The tide is turning. The hope peddler is being chased from the hood.

Automatic_Wing said...

He didn't deserve to be elected in the first place, but that didn't stop him.

Unknown said...

If things don't Change, he won't have any Hope in '12.

If Sloan is wrong, and I believe he is, unemployment has bottomed out. A good many people who called the September Swoon two years ago say another shoe is going to drop in the second half of the year. If so, the Demos, Keynesians, and Lefties in general are going to spend a long time in the Wilderness.

PS Very droll, tg. (But I would vote for her - she at least can admit her mistakes)

Anonymous said...

Blogging about a CNN story that Drudge also has a headline about is blatantly evil.

Is this what heresy has come to?

Irene said...

He can't seem to find any friends on Facebook.

Sprezzatura said...

"If so, the... Keynesians ...are going to spend a long time in the Wilderness."

That conservatives can write this stuff w/o any irony is hilarious. Ever since Reagan y'all have been big time Keynesians who have been juicing growth w/ deficit spending. Duh.

And, Seven,

I troll Althouse a bit. Even so, I do appreciate her posts. My point is that I expect a bit more than Drudge Headlines.

Anonymous said...

Drudge posts headlines. Althouse blogs headlines. What's the issue?

You don't think it's newsworthy that a poll by a left-of-center news network has found Obama tipped into negative voter sentiment?

What do you want to talk about? George W. Bush?

Jim said...

Seven -

And that poll wasn't even of "likely voters," so Obama's re-elect numbers are at least a couple of percent worse than the poll shows.

Obama has now lost 20% of his own voters from 2008.

There seems to be an awful lot of buyer's remorse for the guy who said that the waters would recede and the earth would heal if he was elected.

LonewackoDotCom said...

Finally, my fellow TeaPartyPatriots, it's time to strike while the iron is hot and end SocialSecurity!

But, seriously: the problem with this poll is that once most Americans get a good look at the alternative - a preview was offered by the NYT's article about the teapartiers - BHO isn't going to look so bad after all.

Those who are trying to pull Palin to the fringes are doing her a disservice since relatively few people want strong fiscal conservatism in practice. She - or someone else - could help the U.S. and help themselves by moving towards the center and by striking against the corrupt establishment where they're weakest.

Bruce Hayden said...

Well, what exactly has he done to deserve reelection? A Nobel Peace Prize for voting "present" isn't enough, at least in my view.

He has put together probably the most corrupt Administration in at least the last 50 years. It includes an admitted tax cheat at Treasury overseeing the IRS. The Attorney General, who had been instrumental in trading presidential pardons for cash and political favors at the end of the Clinton Administration has dropped investigations of political supporters, dismissed admitted charges against Black Panthers, and has repeatedly thwarted the IG of his department. Other IGs have been removed for whistle blowing. The Administration is filled with far left advocates in major policy positions, with Justice probably being the worst, with a former terrorist attorney now in charge of prosecuting those very same terrorists.

Meanwhile, he pushed, then signed into law the almost trillion dollar "stimulus" package that cannot be shown to have actually created a single job (and likely destroyed a number of them), as well as a budget containing over 8,000 earmarks and raises for federal employees. He has also pushed health care "reform" legislation that will increase costs, reduce quality and choice, and likely not provide insurance to that many of the currently uninsured. He has also pushed Cap and Trade legislation that would significantly increase energy costs in this country to no discernible advantage to the citizens of this country. And, as that bill appears headed to failure, his EPA appears to be ready to step in and implement similar hugely costly CO2 regulation, again, with no benefit to the citizens of this country.

In his rush towards (Fascist) socialism, the President has taken over and will likely ultimately destroy two of our big three car makers, compromising the Rule of Law while doing that by giving illegal preferences to the auto unions over secured creditors. He also took over a bunch of banks, but propped up some that really needed to be liquidated. The TARP money, when repaid, instead of going back to the treasury, is being spent on other leftist programs.

The President has either broken already, or has threatened to break, pretty much every promise he made running for President. This started with him deciding not to take federal money for the election, and most recently his Administration is threatening to raise taxes on the middle class to pay for his deficit spending, several times that of his predecessor, even in his worst years. And where did that deficit come from? Much of it came from the "stimulus" package, much of which went to pay off his constituencies, notably federal and state employees and those who don't pay income taxes.

So, to summarize, President Obama is pushing extremely unpopular legislation, has broken his campaign promises, has spent money at an extraordinary rate that we don't have, and run an amazingly corrupt Administration.

So, it is not surprising that a majority of Americans don't think that he deserves reelection. The amazing thing is that so many do.

Alex said...

I'm disappointed Ann didn't hat tip Drudge. Shame.

Anonymous said...

Is this a new meme in some leftist hothouse?

Revenant said...

The funniest thing about this poll is that 12% of those surveyed think Obama is working class.

bagoh20 said...

"That conservatives can write this stuff w/o any irony is hilarious. Ever since Reagan y'all have been big time Keynesians who have been juicing growth w/ deficit spending. Duh."

So is your point that it was bad then or is it bad now?

bagoh20 said...

Oh he's working class - he's working it hard.

Jim said...

Revenant -

Or even middle class. He was raised primarily by a grandmother who was a bank VP and went to private schools, then ushered off to Harvard after a mediocre showing as an undergrad.

He's led a life of privilege from start to finish, no matter how many pretensions he makes to the contrary. That people aren't generally aware of this tells you how pathetic the media coverage in the run-up to the 2008 election was.

Anonymous said...

Bag -- Exactly. Any time you want to have a balanced budget and cut the bloated federal government, you'll have conservatives and libertarians drooling over you.

I don't care that Reagan didn't do it. Reagan certainly wasn't God.

Revenant said...

Jim,

Many Americans have a very broad idea of what constitutes "middle class". I personally only classify a person as "upper class" if they've never had any need to work for a living -- the Kennedys and Bushs of the world.

So I can see calling Obama "middle class". He never knew any kind of material want, but he didn't have the kind of crazy money where he didn't have to go out and earn a living.

William said...

His failures and betrayals were more toward those on the left. He has ratified Bush's policies on Iraq and Afghanistan. He has not been precipitate in shutting down Gitmo or pushing for CIA trials. On the left, his initiatives on health care, cap & trade, and mandatory circumcisions have all stalled or failed....He has been unsuccessful but his failures, thank God, have mostly been with left wing programs.

Peter V. Bella said...

In defense of Ann, Drudge is not the only one who has reported on this. Rasmussen and others have reported on Obama's dwindling numbers.

It is not news. It is passe. The guy is tanking, except in the KOS polls, but hey don't count. High schoolers cannot vote.

Jim said...

Peter -

It is not news. It is passe. The guy is tanking, except in the KOS polls, but hey don't count. High schoolers cannot vote.

You know your polling is crap when Nate Silver is subtracting a "house effect" of +6 for the Democrat from your numbers.

Wince said...

Reminds me of the joke about the decorator who put a hollow statue at the base of the grand staircase at the request of his wealthy Italian client.

The Italian took one look and said no, that's not what I wanted.

I want one of those things that rings and you pick it up and say "hello, is that you?"

Hoosier Daddy said...

Better late than never I guess.

Fred4Pres said...

The Republicans only win if they can pick a candidate who can capture this 52%. I am not sure who that candidate is...unless of course it is...

Fred Thompson.

Tan. Rested. Ready.

Fred4Pres said...

Is it a sin to take the name of Obama in vain?

AllenS said...

I have to give an attaboy to Obama for stating that he wants two new nucular plants built. It's something that this country absolutely needs and he's probably the only politician that could accomplish this. Jane Fonda and friends will have a hard time saying anything bad about the endeavor. Unfortunately, like everything else, he probably doesn't mean it and nothing will be built. This man is becoming the biggest nothing in the country.

MadisonMan said...

Who's he running against?

Ann Althouse said...

"I'm disappointed Ann didn't hat tip Drudge. Shame."

1. Drudge doesn't hat tip people he gets his stories from.

2. I hat tip Drudge from time to time, basically when I'm writing about the way Drudge presents something. He gets his share of links from me.

3. I actually didn't get this story from Drudge. I got it from Memeorandum. It's Memeorandum that I get stuff from the most and don't hat tip, but Memeorandum is an automatic aggregator. So I link to it sometimes, but not every time I start there.

Turtledove said...

Sorry but anyone who voted for Obama is gullible at best and a fool at worst. McCain was more qualified in every area and he understands America and Americans. One Obama speech was enough for me to see that Obama was a typical elite leftist with disdain for his country and I could never vote for him. And Palin is a genius compared to Biden, so that excuse won't work either.

Original Mike said...

relatively few people want strong fiscal conservatism in practice.

You hear this a lot, but I am unware of actual evidence on this matter. How would we know, since it's never been tried (in recent memory).

Plus, while it might be true in normal times, the runaway debt train we are on is not normal times.

Phil 314 said...

Is Barack Obama running this year?

Hoosier Daddy said...

relatively few people want strong fiscal conservatism in practice.

You hear this a lot, but I am unware of actual evidence on this matter. How would we know, since it's never been tried (in recent memory).


Well I think people want fiscal conservatism but don't want programs they feel important to be cut. For example, the liberals would be delighted to see the defense budget slashed by 98% (see that's saving money!) whereas conservatives think there could be some cost cutting in the $1 trillion annual spending on social programs. In either case you're going to find resistance.

Brian said...

C3 said:
Is Barack Obama running this year?

Barack ran against Bush in 2008, and it worked for him.

MadisonMan said...

Barack ran against Bush in 2008, and it worked for him

The problem with being President is that people blame you for everything that is wrong. So of course a poll that asks if the President should be re-elected will turn out this way when the economy is down.

Obama fares better than Congress as whole, but worse than an individual Congressman. The 2010 election should be interesting.

Original Mike said...

In either case you're going to find resistance.

Tough. It has to be done. And I am not convinced that the outcry will be as bad as politicians self-serving claims make it out to be.

Hoosier Daddy said...

Tough. It has to be done.

I can't agree more. This country has been on a spending spree for decades now with less and less of the nation actually contributing anything to the treasury. Somehow liberals think you can just continue to sock it to the wealthy and keep racking up the bar tab.

Well for those who haven't been paying attention, I suggest you look at Greece right now and see what out of control government spending gets you.

Hoosier Daddy said...

The 2010 election should be interesting.

That's an understatement ;-)

Should the GOP pick up a significant number of seats in 2010, Bambi is going to have some real problems. If he can't get his pet legislation passed with his huge Congressional majorities now, he's pretty much toast till 2012 unless he actually decides to move to the center ala Clinton. Based upon his entitlement mentality and narcissim, I doubt he will.

kent said...

Palin is a genius compared to Biden, so that excuse won't work either.


To paraphrase from an episode of Fawlty Towers, "I've seen things lying on their backs at the bottoms of ponds" that are geniuses compared to Joe Biden. ;)

victoria said...

Jim, your point about Obama not being working class... who is? Your buddies Romney, McCain, Pawlenty and even Jindal were raised and educated in elitist environments. Your white light McCain came from a long list of Annapolis educated men, the most elite education money can't buy. The only shining light with a "common" man theme is Sarah Plain, oops Palin, who couldn't decide where she wanted to go, quit 5 schools and finally graduated after 6 years. She quit her elected job and is now trying to forge a career based on slamming and being critical of who is in office now. That is not going to get her elected(Thank God).

The elitist schtick can only get you so far, there has to be substance there.


Vicki from Pasadena

victoria said...

I voted for him too, EvilDave. Not one day of regret from me. Would rather have things as they are, economy will come back this year, than a year of McCain and Lady Palin.


Vicki from Pasadena

Hoosier Daddy said...

Your buddies Romney, McCain, Pawlenty and even Jindal were raised and educated in elitist environments.

Was Jim claiming that they were?

Your white light McCain came from a long list of Annapolis educated men, the most elite education money can't buy.

What is it with liberals and their unhealthy obession with race?

The only shining light with a "common" man theme is Sarah Plain, oops Palin, who couldn't decide where she wanted to go, quit 5 schools and finally graduated after 6 years.

And this is supposed to be some kind of negative? I had no idea that changing schools multiple times was a stigma.

The elitist schtick can only get you so far, there has to be substance there.

I agree. Obama has the elitist thing down. Be nice if there was something to fill the suit.

Hoosier Daddy said...

Would rather have things as they are, economy will come back this year,

Well that's a relief!

miller said...

Sometimes I gotta wonder at the level of argument.

No one claims (or no one I know claims) that McCain et al. are not elites.

The claim is that O!bama tries to pretend he isn't elitist when he truly is. He is untouched by so many of America's issues with class and race because he was largely raised outside the hard issues. Only when he got into American politics did he pick up Hillary's ability to absorb accents.

He's a rich guy who's had things handed to him. There is nothing wrong with that in itself. Ted Kennedy was a rich elitist. He was a powerful force in the Senate for almost 50 years.

It's okay to embrace your inner rich elitist.

Phil 314 said...

he only shining light with a "common" man theme is Sarah Plain, oops Palin,

Yes, but she wears makeup and therefore is a "phoney".

Revenant said...

Jim, your point about Obama not being working class... who is?

I see the point sailed right over your head.

JAL said...

Hey vicki.

Read the book yet?