Since the “shellacking” in the November election, President Obama’s poll numbers have been on the rise. Conservatives, always eager to spin every event into validation of their politics, have come up with some bizarre theories as to why this has happened.
Conservative Claim: Obama has put more centrist people in positions of power and given the more liberal people the boot.
Reality: The average person doesn’t care who the Chief of Staff is. Yes, some people have left and in general, they’ve been replaced by people a bit to their right. But to think the man in the street is watching this intently and applauding this as a repudiation of liberalism is quite silly.
Conservative Claim: Obama extended the extension of existing tax rates for the “producer class”.
Reality: Most people favor elimination of the Bush tax cuts for people making more than $250,000 per year. They realized that the Republicans were holding many things hostage to this and are willing to give in to the GOP- this time.
Conservative Claim: Obama disavowed the efforts of the “lunatic left” to pin the Tucson tragedy on conservatives.
Reality: The Republicans couldn’t have handled this worse. Instead of Palin et al saying something like, “You know what, we may not have caused this shooting but we’re going to start being a bit more civil so that we don’t inspire the next one” then both sides could have smelled like roses. Instead, they dug in their heels and grasped at the best flimsy examples of equivalency that they could find. Somehow icons that looked like archery targets were exactly the same as crosshairs as seen by a sniper. Add to this the knee-jerk reaction against any possible tightening of gun laws. “What? Ban expanded magazines? That’s just the first step in banning all guns!”
Contrast this with Mr. Obama’s restrained voice of reason, giving comfort to the grieving and wounded and making a passionate plea for us to be worthy of the little girl that was murdered.
Conservative Claim: Obama has effectively abandoned his pledge to close Gitmo.
Reality: Gitmo’s eventual closing will come later than many of us want, if at all. But if you’re the type of person who relishes the idea of torturing people because they’re Muslim, NOTHING Obama can do or say is going to make you like him. The truth is, all foreign policy issues have vanished from the radar.
Conservative Claim: Obama has effectively abandoned the trying of a terrorist suspect in NYC.
Reality: Again, if you’re the type that was frothing at the mouth over the “Ground Zero Mosque”, this isn’t going to win you over. As it turns out, having it elsewhere will make it less of a circus and will save money on security. It wasn’t an ill-advised idea, it just wasn’t practical. In terms of his recent popularity surge, it wasn’t a factor.
Conservative Claim: Obama has agreed to an interview with O’Reilly.
Reality: Who cares? Those who watch Billo The Clown haven’t voted Democratic in their lives.
All of these claims are bogus and miss the point. So what the Sam Hill is going on? Why is Obama suddenly becoming more popular? Here are my theories:
It’s The Economy, Stupid People are beginning to become cautiously optimistic about their economic futures. The Christmas retail season was better than expected. More Americans are thinking that the country is headed in the right direction than before the election. Look at the chart of jobs gained/lost in recent years:
Are we healthy yet? No. But it looks like we’ve gone from a severed carotid artery to a nosebleed. There is noticeably less panic now than there was in 2009. Our 401(k)s are healthier. We aren’t staring Depression in the face anymore.
The Health Care Catastrophe That Wasn’t Like Chicken Littles, the Republicans were talking gloom and doom over the health care reform. What people have been impacted by it have been helped, not hurt. Now that most people are comfortable with the law, the Republicans are stupidly focusing on it, not the economy. Using childish language like “The Job-Killing Health Care Bill” certainly isn’t helping Republicans.
Tucson Obama struck exactly the right note and appeared presidential following the tragedy. The Republicans, instead of being contrite about their own overheated rhetoric, trotted out the old defense “but they do it, tooooooooo”. If you’re more than eight years old, it doesn’t work. Most notably, Palin showed how utterly out of touch and unqualified she is for any elected position, let alone president.
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Finally a legislative victory for the progressive agenda. Throwing a bone to the base was long overdue. Moreover, homophobia is finally starting to be a drag to the GOP and not the easy way to pick up some votes that it once was. Seeing John McCain act like the cranky old coot that he is made us realize that the right man won in 2008.
START Treaty Another legislative victory and an opportunity for Obama to appear presidential. Passed fairly easily after being held hostage by the Republicans so that the wealthiest could get their precious tax cuts. Another opportunity for some Republican senators to look like out of touch, petulant children.
Republican Miscues John Boehner is earning his title as Weeper of the House. If Nancy Pelosi was to give him a testicle, they’d both have two. He is badly overestimating his power and acting like a spoiled child. He turned down a request to meet in the White House to negotiate tax cuts. He declined an invitation to ride Air Force One for the Tucson memorial. He refused to attend the state dinner for Chinese President Hu. Come on, you’re second in the line of presidential succession and you have better things to do than meet with one of the most powerful nations on the planet?
Worst of all, the Republicans are forgetting about the issue they ran on: jobs. Jobs were Job One, remember? Then, it was pushed back to reopen the health care debate. Now, it’s being pushed back to push anti-abortion legislation. Now that they have control of the House, they act like they don’t know what to do with it. What’s in their plan for jobs, besides tax cuts? Nothing. That’s it. We’re finding that the Republican emperor not only has no clothes, he isn’t very well endowed.
Obama’s Turning Gray I’m serious. For some whites, the sight of a youthful black male is frightening. Now, Obama is starting to look more like Nelson Mandela or Morgan Freeman. It’s hard to stay seething mad at someone who’s starting to look more grandfatherly by the day.
A few months ago, Obama’s poll numbers were in free fall. Republicans were champing at the bit to run against him. Now, they might as well run a right wing whack job like Palin as opposed to a Bob Dole type centrist. If you’re going to lose anyway, you might as well lose big. So to my Republican friends, I say go ahead and dance in the end zone. I’m not going to be the one to break it to you that you ran the wrong way.
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With the debt crisis now moving into a critical phase, there will be no way to keep the interest rates from rising and when that happens we will start seeing hyperinflation as our dollar becomes weaker.
What is the main reason for the unrest in Egypt and the Middle East lately? Not oppressive governments. They have been living under these oppressive regimes for 3 or more decades in the case of Egypt. The catalyst is widespread unemployment, rising prices and increasing poverty. Sound familiar?
The stark truth is that the jobs will not return, because the corporations have found out that they can wring record productivity out of 60% of your workforce if they have a sword hanging over their head, and pay them even less then they would have to normally.
We now live in an economy that cannot productively employ everyone, and things get worse from here on out the farther we push off addressing this.
I do feel a bit sheepish declaring that foreign policy has dropped off the radar on the day of the Egyptian Revolution. All of a sudden, Middle Eastern politics is front and center again.
http://www.suite101.com/content/bill-of-rights-missing-in-egypt-a339618
Like you mentioned in your post, the right look for every opportunity to spin every event into something negative. Now look at one of your commenters, DJohn. Check his earlier posts. Obama was "not getting it", "not American", a future Jimmy Carter, etc. On this comment thread he concedes that "the economy is improving, just not fast enough." Their analysis is never honest. They are deluded in the notion that the center cant see that. They may whip themselves into a frenzy and actually believe that progress is not progress, but most can see that it is.
Nixon spoke of a "silent majority", and although I am loathe to quote the arch villain of constitutional freedom, it serves in this aspect. That "silent majority" is not made up of ideologues from either side, but rather are pragmatists. They see progress as progress, and are unaffected by hyperventilation from either end.
Among my favorite of the chess moves by the administration was the tax cut compromise. Not only did doing it early in the holiday period leave time to get agreements on other measures like D.A.D.T., but it also made it possible to cite the recent economic growth, and the demonstrable willingness to work across the aisle, and declare that the tax cuts will not be continued beyond the 2 year extension. Whether that happens still remans to be seen, but it is closer now than it was a couple of months ago, and the case for it improves daily.
1) He always keeps us guessing, detractors and supporters alike. He is either a master Machiavellian or a naif. My guess is the former.
2) The tea baggers are fairly busting a gusset just because he is president. Anyone who arouses that much animus on the right can't be all bad.
Do you notice that the tan man is actually blacker in the face than the president? John Boehner is a horse's ass.
And again, when it comes to Gitmo and terrorist trials in NYC, you don't deny that Obama has shifted ground, you just defend his new positions.
So, can we give the testicle and penis analogies a rest?