I remember a line from one of my favorite Westerns, The Professionals. Jack Palance says to Burt Lancaster, “All great love affairs have a tremendous enemy.” And Burt Lancaster nods his head and say, “Time!”
The soaring rhetoric that captivated a nation and catapulted Barack Obama to the White House has lost its zip. More and more Americans who believed in the promises they’d thought Obama represented have gotten the proverbial cold water in the face.
And no amount of media spin or thrills going up Chris Matthews's leg can indefinitely cover up the warts that were always there in the first place.
Experience matters!
Competency in the “real world” matters!
Barack Obama’s speechifying skills is not a satisfactory equivalent for either. Never has been, and hopefully after witnessing the ineptness of his presidency, never will be again.
Gallup
Overall job ratings for the president continue to be below majority level
Thirty-eight percent of independents approve of the job Barack Obama is doing as president, the first time independent approval of Obama has dropped below 40% in a Gallup Daily tracking weekly aggregate.
Meanwhile, Obama maintains the support of 81% of Democrats, and his job approval among Republicans remains low, at 12%.
These data are based on Gallup Daily tracking interviews conducted the week of June 28-July 4.
Over the past year, Obama has lost support among all party groups, though the decline has been steeper among independents than among Republicans or Democrats.
Today's 38% approval rating among independents is 18 percentage points lower than the 56% found July 6-12, 2009.
During the same period, his support has fallen nine points among Democrats (from 90% to 81%) and eight points among Republicans (from 20% to 12%).
Overall, 46% of Americans approve of the job Obama is doing as president in the June 28-July 4 aggregate, one point above his lowest weekly average.
Obama's average weekly job approval rating has not been above 50% since Feb. 8-14, though it reached the 50% mark as recently as May 3-9.
Obama's lower ratings come amid a still-struggling economy, the ongoing difficulties presented by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the recent change of command in the war in Afghanistan. Underscoring the challenge at hand, Obama's 44% approval rating in July 2-5 polling (Gallup did not interview July 4) ties his lowest three-day average to date.
Via Gallup
Via Memorandum
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