A Washington Post/Pew Research Center poll released today showed that President Obama's approval ratings jumped 9 percentage points to 56% in the immediate aftermath of the attack that killed Osama bin Laden. According to the Post this is his highest approval rating since 2009.Conventional wisdom suggests this bump might be temporary. I am challenging conventional wisdom for two simple reasons, the American people are waking up to the lies being told about our nation's first African American president and he is distinguishing himself as a mature, calm, cool and confident leader.
Two significant developments last week, the bin Laden raid and the release of the long form birth certificate, made many Americans look at Obama differently. Additionally Obama supporters, like myself, are encouraged by the swagger he has displayed since he gave his budget speech on April 13, in which he took Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and the House Republicans to task.
A PARTIAL list of the lies include:
- He is a socialist
- He is a Muslim
- He was not born here and has no birth certificate
- He is not serious about the war on terrorism
- He is weak on national security
- He wants to raise taxes on all Americans
- He doesn't lead
- He was going to kill granny with death panels
While the economy continues to struggle and unemployment remains high, the lies being told about him have played a significant role in his low approval ratings. As time goes on Americans are beginning to and will continue to view him differently.
Many people who have been in the "disapprove" column voted for him, they genuinely like him, but they had concerns about him. These concerns have been reinforced by the lies being told. Many of those folks started to believe the lies, but the events of the last few weeks have given him the opportunity to answer his critics and show America he is not the man that the Republicans/conservative/teabaggers make him out to be. Hell, even 70% of teabaggers are beginning to wake up and realize that is the House Republicans who are the enemy of Medicare, not Obama.
They have taken their best shots at Obama and they have done some damage, but he didn't loose his head, he just kept going. His pushback on Ryan's budget, chastising the press for focusing on the birth certificate, comforting of Alabama residents, calling Trump out to his face, while planning to take bin Laden out and succeeding, gave many of his detractors a reason to look at him differently and his supporters a reason to hope again.
The bump might be temporary but even if his normals drop a bit he continue to trend up, Obama is back and America is falling in love with him again.
1 comment:
I spent a few hours last night re-watching the 08 presidential debates. I am astounded by the fact that so many people who voted for him disapprove of what he has done to this point in his presidency. He clearly laid out his plan for healthcare in America, his desire to stop incentivising corporations who send their jobs overseas, his intention to soften the blows being taken my middle to low income families, funding programs that work ie Medicare and Medicaid, his belief in Roe v Wade and on and on and on. He even clearly stated his firm belief that the pursuit of OBL would not produce results in Iraq. He stated in almost every debate that he believed OBL was in Pakistan and he questioed Pakistan's resolve to help rid the world of this evil man. I assume people who voted for him did so because they believed in his vision for our country. Why, then would you be disappointed in him doing exactly what he said he would do if given the opportunity? Maybe it is because we are so used to Politicians saying one thing then doing the other that "they" didn't know how to react when one said "it" then proceeded to do "it".
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