Posted on 08/07/2014 4:39:00 AM PDT by Kaslin
The recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll surely doesn’t bode well for the Obama administration, which promised hope and change on a platter back in 2008. Seventy-one percent of Americans feels that the country is going in the wrong direction. President Obama’s job approval has dropped to 40 percent–and only 42 percent approve of how he’s handling the economy. Approval on foreign policy, an area where this administration polled somewhat strongly, fell to 36 percent among Americans.
Regarding the economy, Carol Lee of the Wall Street Journal said earlier this morning on MSNBC’s Morning Joe that “there’s a total disconnect” between reality and rhetoric on Obama’s economic agenda:
MSNBC: "Total Disconnect" Between Obama's Economy Rhetoric And Reality Of How Americans Feel
CAROL LEE, WSJ: If you look at what the president is saying, his messages publicly, there's a total disconnect between, clearly, what the American public feels and what he is saying is going on in the economy. On Friday he came out and said things are getting better. And clearly, people don't feel that way. The president was campaigning -- raising money in California -- a few weeks ago and he was saying people feel better than they did five years ago. And some of the folks who were interviewed, who participated in this poll explicitly said that they don't feel better than they did five years ago, and so I think what the White House has to contend with is how you match the president's rhetoric and how he's approaching the public on this issue with more what you're seeing in this poll, which is that people are not feeling good about the future -- the 79% of people who think their kids' future is not going to be better than their own.
But where there is a connection shouldn't make any supporter of the president hopeful as the 2014 midterms approach since these numbers are eerily similar to Bush's in 2006 (via Roll Call/ Stu Rothenberg):
The new survey, conducted July 30-August 3, showed Obama’s approval at 40 percent, with 54 percent disapproving of his performance.
Since Bush’s late July 2006 job ratings stood at 39 percent approve/56 percent disapprove, the new Obama numbers bear an even more uncomfortably close resemblance to Bush’s.
…
As I noted in the column, foreign policy has become a significant problem for the president — and therefore for his party — in the midterms.
The new NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey found Obama’s job performance on foreign policy as a weak 36 percent approve/60 percent disapprove — by far his worst numbers in that area.
…
While Congress — and Republicans in Congress — remain unpopular, the bad news for the president in the survey continues to raise the possibility the midterms will be more “about” President Obama than about anyone or anything else.
I think 2010 is a better analogy, but I’ll take 2006 (in reverse) just the same….
The difference is that Bush was constantly being bashed by the media, whereas Obama has pretty much been continuously protected by the media.
If the media were treating Obama the way it treated Bush, Obama’s approval numbers would be in single digits.
What amazes me is how cyclical the American political cycle has become. The American people only respond when there’s pain, and that’s pretty darn sad. If they were eyes-forward and ears-open more often, they might be able to maintain a longer term period of stability than every 6 - 8 years.
America is long overdue for a stretch of one-term presidents, IMO.
I see the GOP working mightily to seize defeat from the jaws of victory.
The difference. He’s against the most pathetic opposition party in the history of the republic.
Yep. It’s what they do best.
This may explain why the leftist media are desperately trying to make most Senate races "local".
They're afraid a national election will clobber the Dems.
He's been saying that since his first day on the job.
Obvious, premeditated lies don't even rise to the level of a 'disconnect.' They are pure propaganda and when the public rejects them categorically that is not a 'disconnect.'
The DC press really must toss some of their cliches onto the scrap heap.
Hey wait - my last sentence is a cliche!
I hear there are still some Kenyans that like him though. Also, Chris Matthews.
true, but they won’t succeed. It takes a Prez election year for them to really screw it up.
Luckily, they can’t even reliably succeed at failure.
Bubba never got that low....no pun intended...
As they should be
LOL! Nice observation. :)
His Excellency has whistled up his choir at the white house press corps twice in the past few days to try to win back the public’s confidence. In carefully scripted responses to questions provided beforehand to the faux press, he always interjects now how he follows the constitution, does not make orders beyond the scope of his constitutional power, and (to write this almost makes me vomit) has been working with Congress albeit there is a bunch of radical right wing tea party types in the House who do not wish to support anything he proposes. He never mentions Reid. He also never calls on Fox News either or any reporter who may ask him a question outside the script.
If the media were treating Obama the way it treated Bush, he wouldn’t have been elected in 2008, never mind 2012.
Who cares if he gets to 1%? He is still the nim-nod & Chief!
The man was elected by the duped population TWICE for crissakes so now they are dissatisfied with his abilities?
Couldn’t the numbskulls see this coming in 2008? I don't get it. The man is a zero now and was back in ‘08 so where are the surprises?
He has done so much damage that it is hard to assess. The only thing left is his Presidential library fund raising, retirement, speaking tour and golf. Oh wait a minute, that's what he doing right now!
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