Obama's Plight

[Dr. Shane]

Gallop now has Obama at 38% approval and 52% disapproval. It doesn't look like people are buying his blame-the-Republicans tactics. Time is getting short. We are starting the holiday season and come January the election season will be in full blast. Election coverage will be in the news every day and the average folks that don't normally follow the news will start paying attention.

Come January, Obama really needs an approval rating of at least 50% if he expects to win in November. It seems he needs to change tactics. Opening federal lands to oil exploration would probably be his best chance at getting immediate results. Palin's "drill baby, drill" has great promise but I can't see him doing that. That would almost be like a Jew, Muslim and Adventist roasting a pig together... just not too likely.

[Guest]

Hehe that's funny...

[Tom Wetmore]

Ah. The impossibility of setting unrealistic expectations...

It is a two way street. The bar was set intentionally too high by those that wanted him to fail, so that it became very easy to play the "I told you so" game and guarantee his failure. And it was set too high by him setting unachievable goals and objectives to satisfy both his critics and his supporters. He was damned if he did, and damned if he didn't.

So now I see you doing the very same thing by saying he will get the best results by doing what is most improbable and impossible for him to do. (And a goal that would do little to really help the economy between now and next November, which is his only hope to get a break...) Why not set a goal for him to stop being a Democrat, or a man, or a black man...

It is time for a serious reality check.

[Dr. Shane]

I think bringing his gender and race into this conversation is crossing some sort of a line. Obviously he cannot change either, nor does either have anything to do with his success or failure.

I live in Texas. This is oil country. There are a lot of jobs waiting to be created in oil fracting alone. If the federal government open up new lands for it, it would happen rather quickly. There are a lot of oil men that vote Democrat. Obama wouldn't have to leave the Democrat Party to create jobs in the energy sector.

I would love to see Obama succeed. I voted for him. I would love to see the unemployment rate drop to 6% or 7% by next November. I would love to see the economy boom. I can manager four construction projects at one time. That is me operating at my prime. Currently I am building one. I have to try and stay busy. I would love to go back to old times when I had more to do in a day than I could get done.

But I am a realist. I can admit that Obama already has failed. Look at the healthcare debacle. He had super majorities in both houses of Congress and could not get a single-payer system. That is pathetic leadership. Now, instead of finding common ground with Republicans and moving forward, he is playing partisan games. He is hoping the American public will blame the Republicans they just voted in for the problems he failed to solve before they got there.

It was during 2003 that I heard a commentator say that Bush needed to have an approval rating of at least 50% in January (of 2004) if he were going to win re-election. He had dipped just below 50% in September and November of 2003 but was around 54% in January and went on to win re-election.

[Neil D]

If you are a centrist, why not also point out that the polls show that Republicans opponents out to discredit Obama are also at a 76% disapproval rate among Americans?

Why, if this is a "politics forum" are you not promoting the centrist point of view? I continue to see a right wing agenda in this forum.....

sad....so sad...

[Dr. Shane]

Politics is brutal. Of course Republicans are out to discredit Obama. It is equally true that Obama is out to discredit Republicans. I see that as something obvious.

Congressional approval has never been very high. I cannot ever recall of seeing a poll with Congressional approval above 50%. Most of the time I see it between 12% and 30%. People tend not to give Congress, as a whole, a high approval rating. However when people are asked about their specific Congressman, the individual Congressmen seem to do well. My Congressman is a Democrat. I voted against him six years ago but voted for him the last two elections. He does a good job but six years ago I was very impressed by the Republican running against him.

This forum seems very right wing because the President is a Democrat and a lot of the people that are vocal come here and rant against him. During the GW Bush years, this forum was full of people ranting against Bush and appeared to have a very left wing slant to it. People tend to like to "attack" more than they like to "defend". I don't try to keep the content balanced. I just try to keep members here from attacking each other. I do consider myself a moderate that leans right. That means I don't have a lot of friends because conservatives consider me too liberal and liberals consider me too conservative.

[Tom Wetmore]

I think bringing his gender and race into this conversation is crossing some sort of a line. Obviously he cannot change either, nor does either have anything to do with his success or failure...

Precisely my point. Much of what he is so often tagged with as the reason for his "failure" is likewise beyond the pale of reality or his control. Read the whole of what I posted carefully. Everyone set him up for failure. But some did so for purely partisan political power reasons and/or greed at the expense of the country.

[phkrause]

Originally Posted By: Shane

I think bringing his gender and race into this conversation is crossing some sort of a line. Obviously he cannot change either, nor does either have anything to do with his success or failure...

Precisely my point. Much of what he is so often tagged with as the reason for his "failure" is likewise beyond the pale of reality or his control. Read the whole of what I posted carefully. Everyone set him up for failure. But some did so for purely partisan political power reasons and/or greed at the expense of the country.

[Tom Wetmore]

And I would add that the really frustrating and maddening part is that far too many of the people can't see they are being played for fools and will blindly put those same people in power over their lives - the ones that don't give a rip about what happens to the rest of the country as long as they keep and consolidate their power and wealth.

[Dr. Shane]

Much of what he is so often tagged with as the reason for his "failure" is likewise beyond the pale of reality or his control.

Let's focus and talk about that then and not bring up his gender or race.

I don't know why he has failed and I don't pretend to know. I know it isn't because of the Republicans since he had super majorities in both the House and Senate. The Republicans didn't have the power to stop him.

[Dr. Shane]

far too many of the people can't see they are being played for fools and will blindly put those same people in power over their lives

I am not so sure the same people are not still in power. I am not convinced this is a partisan thing. I believe this disaster was brought on us by both parties in Congress. McCain was certainly among those that helped cause this so I can never repent of not voting for him. Given a choice between Obama and McCain, I would still choose Obama. That said, Obama seems to be in over his head. He lacks leadership. I am not convinced that a Republican can save the country but at this point I can't see any reason to reward failure. Unless things change dramatically before the election, I think we need to give someone else a shot at making things happen.

[Tom Wetmore]

Shane, you are still missing the point of what I said. Go back and read it more carefully this time.

If you think the Republicans were powerless you are are politically naive, and were not paying attention to what was happening.

[Dr. Shane]

Shane, you are still missing the point of what I said. Go back and read it more carefully this time.