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Obama trades coattails for an albatross
Washington Examiner ^ | 11/4/2009 | Brad O'Leary

Posted on 11/04/2009 9:05:33 AM PST by markomalley

There is bad news in Tuesday's voting for President Obama and his dwindling number of followers. Ten months ago, Obamamania got him the support of 53% of American voters.

Obama promised that his successes would only add to that majority. However, he didn’t count on Obamaphobia setting in, a nationwide phenomenon that has reduced his support to around 40%.

In Virginia’s gubernatorial race, Republican Bob McDonnell won in a landslide over his Democratic opponent, Creigh Deeds. Obama campaigned hard for Deeds. Deeds had the benefit of the entire Virginia Obama organization.

Deeds had Virginia governor and Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman Tim Kaine’s help. Also recall that Obama picked Kaine to head the DNC in an attempt to solidify Virginia in the Obama Democrats’ column for years to come.

In the end, Deeds mustered only 41% of the vote. That is quite a bit less than the 53 % of the Virginia statewide vote Obama garnered last November. It appears that Republicans in the Virginia House of Delegates gained at least five seats as well.

In New Jersey, a state that gave Obama 57% of its vote last year, gave Corzine only 45% this year. The state elected Republican Chris Christie. Last year, 2.2 million New Jersey voters turned out for Obama. This year, 1.2 million fewer voters turned out for his candidate.

Even a plurality of voters (46%) in the Democrat-stronghold city of Atlanta (in which 79% of voters chose Obama last year) chose Mary Norwood for mayor. Norwood attracted the support of Republicans and tea party activists. Meanwhile, the liberal-backed Obama Democrat candidate, Kasim Reed, only got 36% of the vote. The two will face each other in a run-off election next month.

The mainstream media, of course, went into full-spin mode weeks prior to these elections – doing its very best to hammer home the notion that none of this has anything to do with how people view Obama’s presidency.

But this is as laughable as many of the mainstream media’s edicts. Democrat Party bosses are in full alarm mode, as are liberal Republican Party bosses in New York and elsewhere. To think they’re sitting back, shrugging all of this off as just a few localized anomalies is to believe in the tooth fairy.

We saw the beginning of Obama’s decline in June, when Rasmussen released a poll showing President Obama and Mitt Romney tied at 45% a piece in a hypothetical matchup. This was a signal that Obama’s policies had already driven away 8% of those Americans who had supported him just eight months prior.

None of this is to say the winning Republicans didn’t succeed on their own merit on Tuesday – of course they did. But much of that merit was having the good sense to position themselves opposite the increasingly unpopular Obama policies.

As for those candidates that aligned themselves with Obama’s policies, well, they reached for last November’s coattails, but ended up with this November’s albatross.


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections; US: New Jersey; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: slapdown
The incumbents will see Obama as this:


1 posted on 11/04/2009 9:05:33 AM PST by markomalley
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To: markomalley

Obama-malaise is starting to set in.


2 posted on 11/04/2009 9:07:14 AM PST by Night Hides Not (If Dick Cheney = Darth Vader, then Joe Biden = Dark Helmet)
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To: markomalley
Blinding following the poodle will be the death of many a political career.

If you are democrat that isn't from the bluest of blue districts, or you are a "moderate" (liberal) republican, I have created this handy dandy sign for you to pin to your chest and back for the next year.


3 posted on 11/04/2009 9:12:35 AM PST by HamiltonJay
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To: Night Hides Not
Obama-malaise is starting to set in.

And let's pray that this malaise kills DeathCare, Cap & Death, Gun Confiscation, and all the other stupid ideas this 5-min former Senator & Community Disorganizer can come up with.

4 posted on 11/04/2009 9:13:02 AM PST by kromike
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To: markomalley
"Obama campaigned hard for Deeds."

Did he?

5 posted on 11/04/2009 9:14:39 AM PST by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: kromike

6 posted on 11/04/2009 9:15:06 AM PST by texas_mrs
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To: markomalley

The ‘you love me so vote for him’ message is showing Obama for just what he is, an over inflated, empty suit pitchman with absolutely nothing of any substance.


7 posted on 11/04/2009 9:15:51 AM PST by Leg Olam (Make yourselves sheep, and the wolves will eat you. - Benjamin Franklin)
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To: markomalley

Mary Norwood will face a tough time because of the entrenched and corrupt Rat machine in Atlanta.


8 posted on 11/04/2009 9:16:46 AM PST by Blood of Tyrants (The Second Amendment. Don't MAKE me use it.)
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To: markomalley

Obama made one strategic fatal mistake:

The first thing he should have done was stack the electoral deck through amnesty, not just for illegal aliens but also for all federal criminals.


9 posted on 11/04/2009 9:23:28 AM PST by UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide (IN A SMALL TENT WE JUST STAND CLOSER! * IT'S ISLAM, STUPID! - Islam Delenda Est! - Rumble thee forth)
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To: markomalley
Obama, you ain't no Sally Field.
10 posted on 11/04/2009 9:34:35 AM PST by JPG (Sarah Palln Rocks.)
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To: markomalley

It's the Obama Effect. Everything he touches implodes and falls apart.

11 posted on 11/04/2009 9:37:35 AM PST by HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity
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To: Leg Olam

I saw a great bumper sticker online. It had a picure of Obama, smiling, and the text said, “You’re going to be disappointed.”


12 posted on 11/04/2009 9:53:47 AM PST by Pining_4_TX
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To: markomalley
"In New Jersey, a state that gave Obama 57% of its vote last year, gave Corzine only 45% this year."

A lot of people said a Republican can never win in NJ...won't happen. Obama apparently has caused some kind of historical "change" in the blue sectors..LOL.

Can you just imagine what red flyover country is thinking?

13 posted on 11/04/2009 10:14:26 AM PST by Earthdweller (Harvard won the election again...so what's the problem.......?)
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To: Earthdweller
Say it loud

Say it often

Baraq's Toxic Coattails

14 posted on 11/04/2009 10:17:30 AM PST by nascarnation
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To: kromike

Yep, malaise, next we’ll see him sitting in the White House in a sweater next to the fireplace telling us all to cut our thermostats down.


15 posted on 11/04/2009 10:51:27 AM PST by Citizen Soldier ("You care far too much what is written and said about you." Axelrod to Obama 2006)
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To: texas_mrs

Why, even Adolph Hitler was able to bring the Olympic Games to Berlin...


16 posted on 11/04/2009 1:06:01 PM PST by GourmetDan (Eccl 10:2 - The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left.)
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