Friday, July 16, 2010

Obama's ultimate embarrassment: tied with Palin in a poll


Just when president Obama thought the polls couldn't get any worse, they did. Recent polls by major news organizations have shown a virtual collapse of support for Obama by independents who say they have no confidence in his ability to make the right decisions, ( his botching of healthcare reform and the financial reform bill is testament to that) and 61% say they are either "angry" or "disappointed" in Obama's presidency.

What the polls don't show is an equal collapse among Democrats although its unlikely most would admit to it in a poll since admittedly, nothing would make a Democrat vote Republican so as an indicator of outcomes it doesn't matter. But most Democrats and liberals have indicated they are fed up with Obama as well and have been for quite some time ( during the healthcare debate congressional Democrats were privately complaining about Obama's lack of leadership). And tensions boiled over among congressional Democrats this week over Robert Gibbs ill advised politically inept remark that "without a doubt" the Republicans can gain control of the House.

But Obama may have hit rock bottom in political polling with the release of a Public Policy poll that shows him tied with -- guess who? -- Sarah Palin -- at 46% each in a presidential preference poll.
When you are a sitting president, two years into your term and you are tied in a poll with a political figure that should have a sock puppet on one hand when she speaks, you are in the kind of trouble from which you probably can't recover.

The other bad news (though not as bad as the Palin poll) shows Obama losing to Mitt Romney and one of the most politically dishonest,wrong headed political scavengers and backward thinkers in history, Newt Gingrich.

According to the Public Policy poll, reported by Matt Lewis, the only Republican candidate Obama beats is Jan Brewer.
Let that sink in for a moment.

You don't really have to ask who Jan Brewer is do you?. Does it matter? All you have to know is that the only Republican candidate Obama beat in the presidential Public Policy poll was someone named Jan Brewer.

If Democrats don't see now that they have to distance themselves from Obama if they want to retain control of the House, then their political judgement is badly damaged.

It was bad enough that Obama threw the Democrats under his crowded political bus with Gibbs' remark,but these polls show that any Democrat associating their election with Obama will be a kiss of political death.

Democrats have to make clear that, like Joe Sestak, they are not Obama Democrats. And a Democrat criticizing Obama is not as dicey as it sounds. First of all it's honest and what the rest of the country already knows. No one can get re-elected on a platform that says "are you going to believe what i tell you or your own lying eyes".

Democrats can honestly criticize Obama for turning healthcare reform into a debacle, caving in, and not delivering on what it should have been and what most people wanted -- the public option, and vow that the congress, if they control congress, will eventually pass it.

They can also honestly criticize Obama for financial reform not being what it should have been, with loopholes for banks to continue to do the same things that resulted in the economic mess in the first place. Alan Grayson has already said he was "disappointed" with Obama on financial reform.

But while Democrats can criticize Obama for his failings, they can also do it while publicly condemning the preposterous and dishonest charges of Republicans and the extreme right that are hurled at Obama that have no credence and are typical of empty Republican blow torch politics..

By criticizing both Obama and the Republicans for exactly what they both deserve to be criticized for, a Democratic candidate elevates his or her credibility and has a winning political formula for the November elections, and one that Obama could never give them.
The question will be whether they will have guts enough to use it and implement it. So here is another peice of advice. While they are thinking about that, they should ask themselves, who in the world is Jan Brewer?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think I have a better picture of who Jan Brewer is and what she stands for than who Obama was and what he stood for on election day 2008.

Anonymous said...

For the Fall? Golden parachutes, ALL! Lobbying ANYONE?

Anonymous said...

O does not care because his poll numbers are still in mid 40s. Unless his numbers crash big time, and if Democrats do not lose the house, nothing will change.