Mar 16 2009
Democrats & Obama Worried About Voter Backlash
The New York Times is reporting the Democrats in DC are all of a sudden worried that the voters are rising up against their reckless and unfocused policies. Before I get to the NYT piece I have to wonder what in the world brought this crystalizing moment of sanity to the DC liberals who have been on a “screw you all, we won” binge of socialist policies surrounded by endless pork projects.
I mean, what was going in Congress and the White House when I and others were screaming that the Spendulus bill was a bunch of liberal pet projects with no stimulus, and that no jobs for Americans would be coming from that pork-a-thon for at least another year? These people when ape sending ridiculous sums of money for doggy parks, bike runs and frisbee parks while closing down promising nuclear fusion projects that have been running SUCCESSFULLY for years. It was the largest waste of money ever passed, and it bankrupt the next two generations of Americans in 2 short years.
Now remember this unrestrained pet project spending when you read the NYT piece:
The Obama administration is increasingly concerned about a populist backlash against banks and Wall Street, worried that anger at financial institutions could also end up being directed at Congress and the White House and could complicate President Obama’s agenda.
The administration’s sharp rebuke of theAmerican International Group on Sunday for handing out $165 million in executive bonuses — Lawrence H. Summers, director of the president’s National Economic Council, described it as “outrageous†on “This Week†on ABC — marks the latest effort by the White House to distance itself from abuses that could feed potentially disruptive public anger.
“We’ve got enormous problems that need to be addressed,â€Â David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, said in an interview. “And it’s hard to address because there’s a lot of anger about the irresponsibility that led us to this point.â€
“This has been welling up for a long time,†he said.
Oh this is just to rich! This is another sign of how inexperienced Team Obama is. What they are lamely attempting is a bit of misdirection, trying to spin the voter anger towards the banks and business. They are trying to say “look at all this wasted spending” when they are guilty of 1,000 times this amount of wasted spending on such critical issues as pooping puppies in Pasadena!Â
What is the backlash – ever growing Tea Parties, like this one in Cincinnati this weekend:
That is what has the democrats scared. But this can only be scary if something else is showing up – and that is bad poll numbers. DC politicians never get worried until poll numbers start moving. DC pols are immune to other signals like logic, common sense, decency, sacrifice (unless it is others who do the sacrificing). But polls – I wonder if that is what is really behind this sudden panic. Rassmussen has the President’s support index down to +6, from a one time high if +30. Is the source of their new focus?
What bothers me is that, instead of focusing on the root economic problems and instead drifting around enacting a plethora of disjoint liberal policies and pork projects, the DC libs are more interested in placing blame than fixing anything. And they wonder why a backlash is brewing?
Addendum: My suspicions confirmed later in the article:
“There’s unquestionably a strong populist surge out there,†said Joel Benenson, Mr. Obama’s pollster, citing his own polls and focus groups. “It’s been brewing for close to four years. For the last two years, Americans were clearly indicating that they believe that one of the biggest obstacles to progress on America’s toughest challenges — notably health care and energy independence — was the influence of special interests and corporate interests on the agenda in Washington.â€
Yep, they are about to become the biggest lightening rod in history – and they deserve it.
Terrye,
Please describe the Republican’s stimulus plan. The only plan I heard was cut federal spending and cut taxes. The exact same plan that McCain advocated in the 2008 election that led the majority of the country to conclude McCain was clueless about how to get us out of this economic mess.
Evidently Guy, you did not comprehend what my question to you was. I’m not surprised. Every other post I’ve read of yours is full of insults to other posters. Let’s try to keep it civil (everybody), ok?
I asked: “But, can you tell me please what hunting after Rush Limbaugh is going to accomplish to help the economy? Or how the first thing Obama did in office (closing Gitmo) did to stimulate the economy?”
How is chasing after Rush going to help the economy? I don’t care if Obama can ram a bill through Congress while doing it. I want to know HOW is trying to hurt Rush going to help the economy. How is closing Gitmo going to help Joe Q. Public pay his mortgage? How is going after Rush going to prevent Jane Doe from being laid off? That is the subject of the post. I know you believe Democrats are perfect and Obama is truly the second coming of Christ, but if voters perceive this regime as too busy trying to shut up a political opponent and their personal situation does not improve, there will be a backlash. Most Americans probably don’t care who Rush is and what he says. They wonder if they’ll be able to put food on the table. They won’t care if all the “freedom fighters” are released from Gitmo. They only care about keeping their jobs.
The polls before the election showed that the economy topped all other issues to the average voter. I seriously doubt anyone is losing sleep over Rush or Gitmo, however.
mark:
Hey, I tried to be civil to everyone on this site for months, and got nothing but insults for it. Terrye up there told me a month or so ago that, because I was liberal, I took personal pleasure when a terrorist set off a bomb in a market square.
The fact that I lost a family member to a terrorist attack was then mocked.
Last week, RedTeam mocked my son’s illness.
So after that – civility pretty much went out the door. Screw ’em – there are some horrible, nasty, disgusting people here, and I could not possibly care less about them or their feelings.
You seem like a decent guy, though. A bit misguided, but at least you can be a civil human being. But I’d ask you not to judge me until you’ve walked a mile in my shoes, mmkay?
So, anyway…
The economy is the top priority, yes. But it is not the ONLY priority – an administration that focused on nothing but one single solitary thing for 50+ days would be ridiculous.
Rush got himself into the news when he declared that he wanted Obama to fail. Nobody forced him to say that – he did it all himself. The White House has simply been responding to that – and Obama made a total of ONE comment about him. Since then, most of the noise has been the infighting in the GOP – which I personally have enjoyed thoroughly. (Though I truly do hope that some good comes out it – this country need a strong, serious opposition party. Boehner, McConnell, Cantor and the rest of those clowns are hurting America.)
Closing GITMO was, for me, a huge priority. And it was approved of by a HUGE majority of Democrats – you know, the people who voted Obama into office, because of promises like “I will close Gitmo.”
So, to put in very simply:
Top Priority != Only Priority.
I know many people on the right, and in the beltway press, are pushing this “Obama is trying to do too much” meme. However, it’s not working – this is from the latest Pew Poll:
So far, do you think Barack Obama is …
Trying to address too many issues at once – 35%
Focusing on too few issues – 4%
Doing about right – 56%
So, while I understand the point you are trying to make, the majority of Americans simply disagree with you.
This is just too good. Really does Obama have a clue what his guys are doing. The most incompetent President ever.
The Obama administration is highly critical over the recent AIG executive bonuses controversy. The administration is once again trying to blame the Bush Administration for its faulty bailout which enables AIG to pay out such bonuses using tax-payer funds.
Reality Check: Obama and his administration need to look in the mirror! Last fall, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner not only consulted with then-Secretary Hank Paulson, it was Geithner, not Paulson, who put together the original rescue plan for the American International Group (AIG)!
The quickest measure of a blog post is how many trolls it attracts.
Pew poll: Obama’s public support is eroding
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/64060.html
Guy, my sympathies go out to you, and please do not believe a few posters speak for all of us. I consider such low insults against you and your family as beyond reprehensible, and although I don’t always read all the comments, I can’t stand personal attacks against anyone. This is a forum to debate, and let’s all do it as gentlemen/gentlewomen.
However, jbecause I do not share your views does not make me “misguided.” There is no such thing as a correct opinion. And I do not consider myself a conservative, but rather as a moderate.
My thing is that the Democrat party is targeting Rush. Rahm Emmanuel (Obama’s CoS!!!) is going after him. To me, these tactics sound a little Nixonian. For a smear campaign to be controlled from the WH while people are struggling to make ends meet is not right in my view. Without delving into what Rush said or what he may have meant, I can remember many times when Dems attacked Bush, and I never heard Bush launch personal attacks in response. I remember seeing an article on PowerLine last week that showed a 2006 poll showing a majority of Democrats wanted Bush to fail. I believe if we are to condemn the statements of an AM radio show host, we should condemn similar statements made during the last adminstration. I remember too clearly when Dick Durbin compared our troops to Nazis or Pol Pot, or Kerry’s “stuck in Iraq” insult. I have friends over there, and I get furious when I hear and read comments by too many Democrats implying they are monsters or idiots. But other than the right wing being up in arms, I have never heard any Democrat condemn these statements, or heard it in the media.
Polls can be construed in many different ways, but let’s keep in mind Obama’s “sky high” ratings are dropping. As a former Obama supporter myself, I believe people are seeing and will continue to see in him the reason I left him.
More than a bad day: Worries grow that Barack Obama & Co. have a competence problem
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2009/03/15/2009-03-15_more_than_a_bad_day_worries_grow_that_ba.html
Obama has pissed off our vets now, too. That can’t be good.
American Legion Strongly Opposed to Obama’s Plan
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20090316/pl_usnw/the_american_legion_strongly_opposed_to_president_s_plan_to_charge_wounded_heroes_for_treatment
Frogg,
I am rather enraged at this idea of Obama’s to get private insurance to pay for war injuries. One thing Americans (right and left) love is our service members. The military is the most respected and trusted institution in this country among all Americans. This is either an attempt to intentionally bankrupt private medical insurance (or push premium costs beyond what people can pay) or a mechanism to scare people from enlisting for fear they will be “on the hook” financially if they are injured in war.
This is absolutely outrageous. This one issue is going to tank Obama’s approval more than anything else he as screwed up so far. We cherish our GIs who have risked life and limb to answer the call of their country. To put them and private medical insurance on the hook for the result is just absolutely insane. We have an obligation to take care of those people.
Obama is a supreme idiot. And it looks like he is putting his own private army toghther that doesn’t answer to the Department of Defense.
Oh, jeez, it never stops. The Obumblers at it again:
Free trade is the one thing that brings up EVERYONE’S standard of living. Protectionism results only in job losses, increased prices and economic contraction in every case in history. “Protectionism” doesn’t protect anything. It ends up causing more job losses. Free trade results in economic expansion.
Can someone puleeze give Obama an education in basic economics?
conman:
The fact that the plan was not cram full of crap does not mean there was not one. You seem to think that unless it is trillions of dollars and rearranges the entire economy and is so large that Congress does not even know what it is voting for, then it does not exist.
Tax cuts for individuals and businesses with infrastructure projects designed to put the most people to work the quickest is really all that the government can or should do. Otherwise they do more harm than good.
Guy:
Back in 2003, the Democrats such as Frank and Dodd were complaining that Bush was trying to impede Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They said he cared more about the banks than he did the people and the banking industry was just hunky dory ok fine.
They rejected his reforms..until 2008 when they passed them. Of course that was after FM had collapsed. It was a lot like closing the barn door after the horse is out and the barn is on fire.
That is what annoys me about the Democratic leadership. They not only did not try to stop this from happening, they went out of their way to make it happen…and then the only thing they can do is try to find someone else to blame.
It is a hopelessly childish and self serving way of governing.
crosspatch:
Can you imagine what the insurance premiums would be for a young soldier? Even if he is not in a combat zone it is a very dangerous occupation.
Funny how easily they manipulate those against their fiscal suicide package. BE VERY CAREFUL! Notice the :bait and switch”?
Typical marxist strategy of starting a class war. First they create problem: Bank deregulation and lowering banking standards on credit to the poor.
Obama’s ACORN days as their attorney (pre-senate) in the sucessful suit that resulted in lowering standards on low income and poor who want to be homeowners.
Then Paulson and others de-regulate depression era rules against leveraging futures (reminiscent of ENRON?)
Now Obama claims falsly “We inherited this crisis”.
“The Republicans….I mean the Bush administration….I mean aren’t you furious? Just look at those greedy capitalists taking executive pay!@#$%^&*I(O
Folks it is the next plank of their plan to blame capitalism instead of themselves for this crisis.
Remember “Problem, Reaction, Soloution?
Now they can represent you the “outraged taxpayer, middle class (now classified as RICH) against the really RICH business executives who help make the capitalist system go round.
Then we can go running to “Pappa Obama and mother Hillary , Uncle Barney Frank and Auntie Pelosi for all our needs. THEY PROMISE TO BURN AT THE STAKE< ALL THOSE GREEDY ENTRAPENURES WHO HAD THE NERVE TO OVEREARN AND OVERPROFIT FROM THE UNFAIR CAPITALISM BEAST.
What we need is to be capped on our own ability to earn and to be part of the New American welfare system where we can all be sure that everything is rationed fairly reguardless of effort, ability or tallent. Just leave your motivation at the doorstep .
So, yes – Obama can mention Rush once in a meeting with GOP congressional leaders, and he can sign an order closing Gitmo — AND he can push through an $875B stimulus bill (you might have heard of that one – it was in the news for a bit), and an omnibus bill, and work on the budget too.
Great. He can do more than one thing at once. Too bad that those things are all very bad for America.
[…] As I predicted yesterday, the faux outrage of Dems to the reality that AIG must meet its financial commitments using tax payer funds was an attempt to deflect outrage from the pols onto the businesses those same pols decided to bailout. So far, the attempted deflection is not working and the DC pols are getting a strong (and well deserved) backlash from the country: President Obama’s apparent inability to block executive bonuses at insurance giant AIG has dealt a sharp blow to his young administration and is threatening to derail both public and congressional support for his ambitious political agenda. […]
What a difference a day makes. Yesterday Rasmussen was showing the Democrats with a 4 point lead in the generic congressional ballot. Today a new poll is out with the Republicans ahead by 2 points for the first time in YEARS!
The backlash is well underway. My gut says the Dems are going to lose Congress *bigtime* in 2010. It will be interesting to see how Obama reacts with a Republican Congress.
GuyF
I didn’t mock your son’s illness. You said he had ADHD and I said that’s not an illness. Most medical opinion blames it on lack of attention of parents. I gave you some links to that. To try to make your problem into your son’s problem is kinda pathetic.
GuyF but it IS possible for a President to walk and chew gum at the same time.
Some president’s maybe, but not this one. And that is not two of the more important talents for a Pres to have anyhow. I’d prefer he be able to walk and think at the same time.