After receiving a brief bump in the polls following the killing of Osama Bin Laden, the President’s numbers have come down in recent weeks. In fact, to below a 50% approval rating, according to a CBS News poll released on Wednesday. He’s at 48% approval, down from 57% following the killing of Bin Laden.
Why?
The economy just really is that bad, and the death of a terrorist leader every month couldn't make Americans forget that.
More Americans than ever are on Food Stamps.
The new unemployment figures are 9.1%.
That’s not even counting the underemployed, or even those who have stopped looking for work.
No president has been re-elected with unemployment numbers higher than 7.2% since FDR.
At one point, some predicted easy re-election for Obama, citing that the Republican field was just “too weak.” In that respect, the economy may act as the great equalizer between big-name fundraisers like Obama and the likes of a Tim Pawlenty. There is much to be gained politically by harping on the economy and unemployment from a Republican point of view, and Mitt Romney was smart to focus on these issues in his opening salvos the other week. (If only the guy had a personality. Also, the whole RomneyCare issue is just embarrassing for him.) It wouldn’t even be demagoguery to do so. That’s real human pain and suffering. Real people out of work. Real people trying to put their kids through school.
Know what’s happening to the President?
Blaming things on Bush isn’t going to fly anymore.
More and more Americans are beginning to hold Obama responsible for current conditions, and less and less are blaming his predecessor. It was just a matter of time as things continued to get worse.
The vulnerabilities are glaring from a strategic standpoint: jobs and the economy are becoming the President’s glass jaw.
All that is needed is someone mighty enough in the Republican field to wield the knockout blow.
From a Democratic perspective, these are liabilities that can and must be shored up, and doing something unorthodox just might be the key to Obama's re-election.
Let's be honest: Bernanke and Co. don't have too many arrows left in their quiver. The stimulus failed horribly. We just finished a second round of quantitative easing. We can't keep buying our own bonds.
The ball is in President Obama's court, fully and totally.
He is the master of his own destiny.
Just calling it like I see it.
