Comments on: Poll: Obama Rating High But Quickly Losing Republican Support

By: PeopleWatching

PeopleWatching — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:46:47 +0000

Joe Gandelman consistently writes insightful pieces. For anyone interested in the theme this piece closes with..."partisan polarization wars stemming from the baby boomer us-versus-them battles rooted in the turbulent 60s", I highly recommend this op-ed which was recently in USA TODAY: http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20090... It connects the dots re. this issue better than anything else I can remember ever reading, about this moment in history, the rise of Generation Jones, and the role moving forward of the Boomers.

By: Rudi

Rudi — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 04:36:01 +0000

SD Most of the MSM sucked up to Bush during his first term. Chris Mathews had homo-erotic dreams about W's cod piece when he landed on the aircraft carrier declaring "Mission Accomplished".

MATTHEWS: What's the importance of the president's amazing display of leadership tonight?

[...]

MATTHEWS: What do you make of the actual visual that people will see on TV and probably, as you know, as well as I, will remember a lot longer than words spoken tonight? And that's the president looking very much like a jet, you know, a high-flying jet star. A guy who is a jet pilot. Has been in the past when he was younger, obviously. What does that image mean to the American people, a guy who can actually get into a supersonic plane and actually fly in an unpressurized cabin like an actual jet pilot?

[...]

MATTHEWS: Do you think this role, and I want to talk politically [...], the president deserves everything he's doing tonight in terms of his leadership. He won the war. He was an effective commander. Everybody recognizes that, I believe, except a few critics. Do you think he is defining the office of the presidency, at least for this time, as basically that of commander in chief? That [...] if you're going to run against him, you'd better be ready to take [that] away from him.

[...]

MATTHEWS: Let me ask you, Bob Dornan, you were a congressman all those years. Here's a president who's really nonverbal. He's like Eisenhower. He looks great in a military uniform. He looks great in that cowboy costume he wears when he goes West. I remember him standing at that fence with Colin Powell. Was [that] the best picture in the 2000 campaign?

[...]

MATTHEWS: Ann Coulter, you're the first to speak tonight on the buzz. The president's performance tonight, redolent of the best of Reagan -- what do you think?

COULTER: It's stunning. It's amazing. I think it's huge. I mean, he's landing on a boat at 150 miles per hour. It's tremendous. It's hard to imagine any Democrat being able to do that. And it doesn't matter if Democrats try to ridicule it. It's stunning, and it speaks for itself.

By: AustinRoth

AustinRoth — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 03:52:13 +0000

Obama, Pelosi and Reed play only their base too. Give it until the end of the year, if that long, for the independents acknowledge that reality and abandon them all.

By: superdestroyer

superdestroyer — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 21:22:08 +0000

All the poll numbers show is how much the MSM has taken ownership of the Obama Administration. CNN, the networks, and the major newpapers absolutely refuse to say anything bad about President Obama. As this goes on, the re-election of President Obama will be assured because the media has failed to go its job. Look at the numerous problems with filling his adminsitration, the idiotic comment about likeing an office as warm as a hothouse, the near racist statements of his Attorney General, and the outirght lies that are being told about the budget.

As long as the media stays behind the Obama Adminstration, he will get 95% approval from Democrats. Why would any group walk away from the Obama Adminsitration that is passing out $1 trillion dollars in goodies.

By: elrod

elrod — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 20:38:22 +0000

That is true, Leonidas, which is why the Democrats will continue to “ignore” the Republicans and push their agenda for the economy. If it all fails, the public will vote them out in 2010 or 2012. Of course, as a Democrat myself who supports the Democratic vision for the economy, I hope they resolve the Franken lawsuit nonsense (and it really is nonsense at this point; the Senate should just seat him provisionally) and Illinois quickly appoints a replacement for Burris. With 59 votes, the Democrats will have the numbers in the Senate to push a full Democratic agenda on energy, health care, the budget, housing, banking and the environment.

By: Leonidas

Leonidas — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 20:31:16 +0000

New presidents enjoy higher popularity ratings after taking office. Remember Jimmy Carter started out with 66% approval. Tooo early to call it yet for the New President. Approval numbers in about 2 years will be the important thing for the 2010 elections not approval now. The euphoria will wear off and we will see whther or not Obama and the Democratic party will maintain their approvals. The performance of the economy will be the primary factor, when they won the presidential election and both houses of Congress the democrats bought that issue, it is theirs now and their performace on it will likely greatly influence their performance in 2010. What the GOP does can certainly have impact on their showing, but the big card is the Democrats to play, and whether its a winning or losing one will depend on how the economy reacts to it.