Obama's Poll Numbers Whacked By Bank Bailouts, Big Government Spending, & Massive Deficits
Video: Henry Blodgett and Aaron Task -- Aired December 17, 2009
----------
From Tech Ticker
Aaron Task: What a difference a year makes. The stock market has come a long way in the past 12 months and so have President Obama's approval ratings, but in the opposite direction.
The latest WSJ/NBC News poll shows Obama's approval ratings have slipped below 50% for the first time in his presidency and have suffered the steepest first-year decline in modern American history.
There's good reason Obama's poll numbers have fallen, most notably his mishandling of the banks, as Henry and I discuss here and in the accompanying clip. Obama may talk tough about "fat-cat bankers" but the actions of his administration suggest policy is still being conducted at their behest.
Beyond "bailout fatigue", Americans are upset with Obama about the ongoing spending spree in Washington. On Thursday, the Democrat-controlled House passed a $290 billion increase to the government's debt ceiling as well as a $154 billion package aimed at boosting jobs and aiding state governments.
In his Dec. 8 speech at the Brookings Institute, Obama declared: "Even as we have had to spend our way out of this recession in the near term, we have begun to make the hard choices necessary to get our country on a more stable fiscal footing in the long term."
But again, actions speak louder than words, and it's clear to most Americans we are still in the "spending our way out of the recession" phase. That might be the "right" thing to do with unemployment and foreclosures at startling levels, but many taxpayers understandably worry about what happens when the bill come due for all this spending.
Meanwhile, Obama has disappointed his liberal base on a number of fronts, including the Afghan troop surge, the absence of a public option in health-care reform and lack of progress at the Copenhagen climate meeting.
Given all that, it's not surprising Obama's ratings have fallen and just 35% of Americans feel positively about his party vs. 49% in February, according to the WSJ/NBC poll.
With incumbents of all stripes feeling the heat, that bodes poorly for the majority party in the 2010 mid-term elections. About the only good news for President Obama is he's not up for reelection until 2012 so he has time to right the administration's ship, which needs a "change" of course.
----------
Video: Henry Blodgett and Aaron Task -- Aired December 17, 2009
Dec 18, 2009 at 2:14 PM
Reader Comments (14)
Conservative Democrat Stands Tough on Abortion Issue, Threatens to Filibuster with Republicans
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/HealthCare/sen-ben-nelson-hindering-health-care-bill-senate/story?id=9366337
Geologist On Trial For Causing Earthquakes While Searching For Clean Energy
Pelosi, Rahm do not scare Rep. DeFazio
Barack Obama's speech disappoints and fuels frustration at Copenhagen
US president offers no further commitment on reducing emissions or on finance to poor countries
Skies darken for Ben Bernanke nomination
Obama Loses Lending Lever as Citigroup, Wells Fargo Repay TARP
Florida Man Exonerated After 35 Years Behind Bars
Memo to Dickwad in the Oval Office: the American people have been "keeping score," too. And by our reckoning, Wall St. and the other special interests pretty much own you guys. You are going to be TOAST come 2012. Count on it.
DB, I really think all the work you've put in here is really starting to pay off. People like you "moved the needle" on round one of the Bernanke confirmation. This isn't going to be a cake walk after all. And as far as I'm concerned, 16 Senators ended their careers yesterday. I really think this is the vote people will remember.
As far as I know, only you, Yves Smith of Naked Capitalism and Chris Whalen have come out and said, "Tell your Senator to dump Bernanke". Kudos to all three of you. I will take note who jumps on that band wagon when it becomes clear that this nomination is doomed.
Thanks for doing so much of the Heavy Lifting, DB!
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1752-There-Is-No-Way-Out-Of-This-Box.....html
Here's to hope that someone will whack Obama himself.