Among the many, many unforced errors made by Obama since Jan 20, this has the be the biggest and the worst.
And will put him in positive numbers on the next Ras survey..
In the Ras index thingy of plus/minus it will, for a while. But the overall approval will not move much, for a while. When the consequences for such a rash (stupid) move are felt and can perhaps even be measured on the reichter scale for a few concentric miles around the crater, those polls will take a dive.
This is very simple. Gen McChrystal said more troops or I quit. Obama either had to do the right thing or appease his base. He will always appease his base since that is from where his adulation comes. Without that hero worship crap, he cannot even exist for in his mind he has become some sort of hero.
GWB predicted that the weight of the office would alter obama. It did but not in the humbling way that I think W had in mind. Instead, it has turned him into an even crazier person who must be on TV 24/7 and will squash dissent in the way handiest at the moment...which makes him much more dangerous. Clinton at least had an instinct for self preservation politically. obama has nothing like that; he has no since of the middle road or the mindset of independents. He will not fool them twice.