That's pretty much how I feel in a nutshell..

I WANT to believe in Obama and WANT to believe he is being completely altruistic in his actions. To a certain extent, I believe he is.. But the cynic in me knows that the Democrats are NOT on the same page as Obama...

What astonishes me is how Republicans are doubling down on Obama failing. Just once, I'd like an interviewer to ask a Republican "But what happens if Obama's plans work, and the economy recovers quickly? What will your party do then?"

Funny.. That's what the Republicans asked of the Democrats regarding Bush's policies in Iraq...

Guess what? The policies worked.. And now the Democrats are falling over themselves trying to take credit for it. Or, at the very least, ignoring it.

Michale.....

The pirates, that makes sense. Hard to be against success. I still maintain that if things hadn't worked out so perfectly, a lot of the same people would now be condemning Obama for his action (from the right AND the left, incidentally). But thankfully, those snipers did a heck of a job.

As for what you cited, the first one seems like a semantic debate rather than a true rejection of an Obama policy. And the second one seems a bit vague -- I bet under pretty much ANY president people would agree with "Washington is the problem," but I have nothing more than gut feeling to back that assertation up, I freely admit.

My sense is that people feel uneasy about the Wall Street bailouts, but at the same time are kind of waiting to see the result. Most people (myself included) simply do not understand economics or the financial industry, and have to trust someone else to do the right thing. Sometimes we (and the politicians) trust the wrong people, but you really can't tell until after the fact.

If Obama's actions on the economy are seen, oh, say... six to nine months from now... to "have worked" then I think 2010 is going to be another banner Democratic year. If, on the other hand, they are seen to "not have worked" or even "made things worse" then Dems will probably lose a bunch of seats in 2010.

Notice I said "seen to have worked"/"seen to not have worked" and not "have worked"/"have not worked". In this arena, where it's almost impossible to prove what "caused" either ups or downs, it's all about the perception.

That's a long way of saying "the jury's still out" on Obama's policies. My gut feeling is that Americans WANT to trust Obama, and for the time being do trust him, but that that trust could disappear pretty quickly if things turn sour. Once we get a few more months down the road, the honeymoon will wear off and people will start judging Obama on his economy, rather than the Bush economy he inherited. His poll numbers will likely come down at that point, but whether they come down only five points or so, or whether it is a bigger drop, that remains to be seen.

Again, that's just a gut feeling, though.

What astonishes me is how Republicans are doubling down on Obama failing. Just once, I'd like an interviewer to ask a Republican "But what happens if Obama's plans work, and the economy recovers quickly? What will your party do then?"

But I'm not holding my breath waiting for it.

-CW

R.I.P. Dom DeLuise

Though best known for movies like CANNONBALL RUN and BLAZING SADDLES, I loved him best as the irrepressible URGO in an episode of STARGATE SG-1.

He will be missed...

Michale.....

"Just 27 percent of Americans think elected officials in Washington are part of the solution when it comes to improving the economy, while 61 percent think they are part of the problem. Republicans (75 percent) and independents (66 percent) are more likely than Democrats (46 percent) to think politicians are part of the problem."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,485147,00.html

Unfortunately, I can't find the specific article I quoted from that laid out all the polls. I knew I shoulda BM'ed it!! :D

Further, it WAS a week or two ago (or maybe longer), so things might have changed since then..

Time will tell if reality bears out the poll numbers. The cynic in me doesn't think that will happen... :D Admittedly, my prognosticational track record ain't the best, so we'll see... :D

Michale.....

Americans overwhelmingly approved of Obama's actions with regards to the Somali pirates. His "Weapons Free" order was viewed very favorably..

I'll get the info on the other polls I mentioned. Just wanted to ease your suffering as soon as possible. :D

Michale.....

Much like the election season, I am starting this series because I went looking for a graph of this type and couldn't easily find it. I wanted to see numbers over time, and the only thing I found was a very short-term chart. So it was largely my own tinkering around, which then led to "I bet if I'm looking for this that there are others who would like to see it too" and voila, another column series is born.

The number-crunching is actually pretty minimal, it's just putting it into a chart we can all easily reference that does the trick!

OK, I admit it. I'm a geek who likes charts. Sue me!

:-)

-CW

OK, it's killing me, which one issue are you saying Obama got approval for?

I'm thinking "Bo the dog" personally, but I could be wrong.

Either way, it's bugging me, so please end my confusion!

:-)

-CW

I've heard this claim before, but have yet to see numbers to back it up. Not saying the claim isn't true, just expressing my own ignorance. You got a link to a poll showing "Americans are dead set disapproving of practically every action taken by the Administration sans one"? (And, incidentally, which one did they approve of?)

Looking at a typical poll that shows each question asked and the response rate, I find not much evidence, although they aren't asking specifically about many actions the admin. has taken, to be fair.

But, look at question 2. That, to me, is pretty broad support, with the exception of immigration (plurality support, but not majority) and the automakers bailout.

Question 5 is germane as well -- people trust Obama over the Republicans in Congress by a 60 to 21 margin. Cong. Dems didn't do much better (36), but still...

Q9 - 60% think Obama is keeping his major campaign promises.

Q11 - Obama over GOP 61/24

Q12a/13 net - 59% say economic stimulus will help or has helped, 38% think it has hurt or won't help.

Q22 is the true "popularity contest" as opposed to Obama's job approval numbers, which are about the actual job he's doing.

Q23 shows "warm and fuzzy" qualities of Obama, and the numbers are astoundingly high.

Q25 is about a specific Obama policy - meeting with foreign leaders. 71% approve, 27% disapprove.

Q29 shows weaker support (but a majority nonetheless) for the torture memo release.

I predict you'll like Q30.

But even Q31 squeaked out a majority.

Q34 - is Obama "too liberal" or "too conservative" or "about right"? 62 percent say "about right."

The rest of the questions, until the party affiliation at the end, are about issues Obama hasn't even tackled yet (gun control, gay marriage, marijuana legalization, etc.), and so aren't really relevant (although the answers are interesting) to talking about Obama yet.

So, if this poll is so wildly wrong, please point me to one that shows what you're talking about. Because I just don't see it, personally.

-CW

But let's put it in context.

The APPROVAL poll in and of itself amounts to nothing more than a popularity contest. And, to anyone with half a brain, it's obvious that Obama is popular.

To get the complete picture, one must also consider the polls that show the Approval/Disapproval of the various actions taken by Obama. As THOSE polls show, Americans are dead set disapproving of practically every action taken by the Administration sans one. Many of those by a 2-1 margin..

With those polls, people would understand why the percentage of those who approve of Obama has gone down, but the percentage of those who disapprove of Obama has gone up.

Michale.....