Americans losing confidence in Obama

[ducks]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090821/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_poll

[ducks]

WASHINGTON – A new poll says that Americans, concerned over the future of health care reform and anxious about the growing federal budget deficit, are losing faith in President Barack Obama.

The Washington Post-ABC News survey found that less that half of Americans — 49 percent — say they believe the president will make the right decisions for the country. That's down from 60 percent at the 100-day mark of the Obama presidency.

The poll published Friday says Obama's overall approval is 57 percent, 12 points lower than it was at its peak in April. Fifty-three percent disapprove of the way he's handling the budget deficit and his approval on health care continues to deteriorate.

The national survey was conducted Aug. 13-17 and has a sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

[DarrinS]

Not everyone. Confidence among Obamozombiebots has never wavered.

[George Gervin's Afro]

He's got plenty of time to kick the conservatives asses...:lmao

The economy will get better and he will have his health care billed passed and the party of no will further wilt away... here's to the dwindling tea baggers everywhere..:toast

[George Gervin's Afro]

Not everyone. Confidence among Obamozombiebots has never wavered.

I don't seem to remember any of you guys referring to the previous administration's even lower poll numbers.... I guess it's one of those selective memory thingys..

[ChumpDumper]

Polls didn't matter then.
The poll published Friday says Obama's overall approval is 57 percentWow, that's awful.

[Crookshanks]

He's got plenty of time to kick the conservatives asses...:lmao

The economy will get better and he will have his health care billed passed and the party of no will further wilt away... here's to the dwindling tea baggers everywhere..:toast

Ummm - did you see the report earlier this week that showed that conservatives outnumber liberals in ALL 50 states? Even in liberal places like Massachusetts, the people who consider themselves conservatives outnumbered those who consider themselves liberal. So it seems we're NOT going away any time soon - in fact, our numbers are growing. Sucks to be you! :lmao

[SonOfAGun]

He's got plenty of time to kick the conservatives asses...:lmao

The economy will get better and he will have his health care billed passed and the party of no will further wilt away... here's to the dwindling tea baggers everywhere..:toast

I think this will be the appearance as well. I cannot wait to see what Axlerod is able to drum up close to election day.

It's going to be exciting!

[Extra Stout]

Ummm - did you see the report earlier this week that showed that conservatives outnumber liberals in ALL 50 states? Even in liberal places like Massachusetts, the people who consider themselves conservatives outnumbered those who consider themselves liberal. So it seems we're NOT going away any time soon - in fact, our numbers are growing. Sucks to be you! :lmao
I'd be curious to see what the ideology of a self-identified "conservative" in Massachusetts would be. My guess is that a "conservative" in New England would be like a "center-left Democrat" in Texas, so don't go counting those chickens quite yet.

[ChumpDumper]

If everyone is so damn conservative, why have there been deficits most of this decade?

[symple19]

If everyone is so damn conservative, why have there been deficits most of this decade?

Because there's no such thing as real conservatives anymore. All anyone does, both Rs and Ds, is spend and expand. So-called conservatives these days are obsessed with social issues more than anything else, as opposed to fiscal responsibility and smaller government. I've heard both parties referred to as, "different arms of the mafia, with both reporting back to the same boss". The boss in this case would be $$$$$$$.

[whottt]

Seriously, if there were more conservatives than liberals there's no way Obama would have been elected President...he had the most unconservative platform of pretty much any nominee in the last 50 years. There's no way you can rationalize being a conservative and voting for Obama...

Not even to teach the Republicans a lesson...that's like teaching your child a lesson by killing him.

I think people just like saying they are conservative moreso than liberal...it's got a more dignified sound to it(reagardless of politics)....kinda like on this forum, there are a half dozen asshats on here that call themselves conversatives that are clearly lying or else haven't got a fucking clue what one is....they know who they are.

And before anyone goes there...I'm not a conservative and haven't really ever claimed to be one. I'm just not a liberal, at least based on the current humongous asshole and frankly ignorant disposition of liberals. There was a time liberals could make a claim to being more intelligent...that is simply not the case anymore, they are every bit as closeminded, full of shit and filled with hate as the conservatives have ever been.

[SouthernFried]

There hasn't been a "conservative" in the White House since Reagan. And before that, maybe Kennedy or Eisenhower.

And yes, Kennedy was a conservative. Cut tax rates, supported business...and did a stupid invasion of Cuba. Nixon was a liberal, wage and tax controls, EPA, etc...Bush's were both big spenders, as was every "liberal democrat." Not much difference except on Social issues, which I could give a .... about. Hell, even Reagan had deficits...but, he at least tried to stop it, just didn't have a congress who wanted to stop spending, so he ended up "compromising." pffftttt...

So, there have been no "conservatives" in the white house for a very long time. Politicians all look to spend and grow govt, McCain might as well campaigned as a Democrat...and that's why OBAMA is in. There was no conservative to vote for, so we didn't vote.

Will it change?

Probably not.

"The natural order is for govt to increase at the expense of individual Liberty and Freedom."

Don't remember who that quote was from, but it is accurate. Don't remember anytime where govt has NOT grown. People wanting someone to take care of them, is the natural order of humanity I guess. America was created to try and buck that trend, and all these people wanting to be like "other" countries, forget about why this country was created in the first place. We created this country to NOT be like those other countries. That was the whole idea. And that's why we've been great.

But, the natural order is hard to stop. As is evident from all the people wanting govt to do more and more for them.

and so it goes...

[Jacob1983]

It will be between 30 and 45 percent by Christmas time.

[Nbadan]

We’re all familiar with them. And in these days of the 24 hour news cycle, we’re bombarded with them every day. And worse yet, they’re taking over. Taking over our media, taking over our conversations, and most alarmingly, taking over our government.

They are polls. No, not Polish people — polls. Surveys. “Measures of public opinion and/or sentiment.” And they have emerged as the single greatest threat to our society and our way of life.

You know what I’m talking about:

• 23% of adults in Texas believe President Obama is Muslim
• 34% of Americans believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone
• 60% of Americans believe in UFOs
• 84% of remaining Republicans believe Rush Limbaugh cares about someone other than Rush Limbaugh and his pharmacist…

You get the idea. So how, or why, you may wonder, do they pose such an ominous threat?

Funny you should ask.

Polls presumably break down even the most complex of issues into one and two digit numbers. And when it comes to numbers, polls have shown us that the population can be broken down into three distinct segments:

1. Those who are impressed by them
2. Those who are intimidated by them, and
3. Those who believe that putting small pieces of cubed fruit into Jell-o was the greatest idea of the 20th century

But who are the actual people behind these numbers? A typical poll about political and social issues takes an average of 10-15 minutes to complete. This might explain why a recent, informal straw poll of this author’s personalities revealed that those who take the time to participate generally fall into one of the following categories:

• Shut-ins (or, ‘recluses’, depending on economic status)
• Inmates
• Those who believe that putting small pieces of cubed fruit into Jell-o was the greatest idea of the 20th century
• Assholes

And speaking of the latter, this is where the socio-political threat to our nation comes in.

In spite of, or more likely because of, the consolidation of news sources, the media explosion of the last 20 years has created a generation of ‘gonadally-challenged’ politicians who also apparently fall into the ‘intimidated by numbers’ segment of the overall population. As a result, they have, for the most part, lost sight of the fact that they were elected by their constituents to go to Washington and learn (with the aid of large taxpayer-funded staffs and all the resources of the federal government to assist them) about the complex issues that the voters don’t have the time and/or inclination to study, and then, exercising the trust placed in them by those they represent – hence the term ‘representative democracy’ – decide for, and on behalf of those constituents what they think is in the overall public interest. It is not ‘elitist’ when a politician claims to know more than ‘Joe Six-Pack’ about the economy or foreign affairs or the health care system; it’s a sign that they’re doing their job. Any of them who can honestly say they don’t should be dressed in a wolf costume and dumped in a vacant lot adjacent to an Alaskan heliport.

What’s happening instead is that rather than doing their jobs and risking alienating the four groups of poll-takers in their district or state, they use the poll numbers as a form of referendum, and their costume instead becomes that of a sheep.

The result of this poll pandering, unless the trend is reversed, will inevitably lead to an economic meltdown, or worse. Letting polls dictate policy is tantamount to government by referendum, and government by referendum doesn’t work. This is not a slight on the American people, it’s just common sense. We, as individuals, don’t have the time necessary to allow it to work. Representation, under our system, means electing people to make decisions for us – not one-person one-vote on every single issue. Remember, it’s the American people who, in their inherent wisdom, adopted this form of government in the first place. To continue down the legislation by referendum path we are currently on can only end in catastrophe.

… And if you think this all sounds alarmist, just remember one word: ‘California’.

[z0sa]

It won't sink far.

[johnsmith]

We’re all familiar with them. And in these days of the 24 hour news cycle, we’re bombarded with them every day. And worse yet, they’re taking over. Taking over our media, taking over our conversations, and most alarmingly, taking over our government.

They are polls. No, not Polish people — polls. Surveys. “Measures of public opinion and/or sentiment.” And they have emerged as the single greatest threat to our society and our way of life.

You know what I’m talking about:

• 23% of adults in Texas believe President Obama is Muslim
• 34% of Americans believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone
• 60% of Americans believe in UFOs
• 84% of remaining Republicans believe Rush Limbaugh cares about someone other than Rush Limbaugh and his pharmacist…

You get the idea. So how, or why, you may wonder, do they pose such an ominous threat?

Funny you should ask.

Polls presumably break down even the most complex of issues into one and two digit numbers. And when it comes to numbers, polls have shown us that the population can be broken down into three distinct segments:

1. Those who are impressed by them
2. Those who are intimidated by them, and
3. Those who believe that putting small pieces of cubed fruit into Jell-o was the greatest idea of the 20th century

But who are the actual people behind these numbers? A typical poll about political and social issues takes an average of 10-15 minutes to complete. This might explain why a recent, informal straw poll of this author’s personalities revealed that those who take the time to participate generally fall into one of the following categories:

• Shut-ins (or, ‘recluses’, depending on economic status)
• Inmates
• Those who believe that putting small pieces of cubed fruit into Jell-o was the greatest idea of the 20th century
• Assholes

And speaking of the latter, this is where the socio-political threat to our nation comes in.

In spite of, or more likely because of, the consolidation of news sources, the media explosion of the last 20 years has created a generation of ‘gonadally-challenged’ politicians who also apparently fall into the ‘intimidated by numbers’ segment of the overall population. As a result, they have, for the most part, lost sight of the fact that they were elected by their constituents to go to Washington and learn (with the aid of large taxpayer-funded staffs and all the resources of the federal government to assist them) about the complex issues that the voters don’t have the time and/or inclination to study, and then, exercising the trust placed in them by those they represent – hence the term ‘representative democracy’ – decide for, and on behalf of those constituents what they think is in the overall public interest. It is not ‘elitist’ when a politician claims to know more than ‘Joe Six-Pack’ about the economy or foreign affairs or the health care system; it’s a sign that they’re doing their job. Any of them who can honestly say they don’t should be dressed in a wolf costume and dumped in a vacant lot adjacent to an Alaskan heliport.

What’s happening instead is that rather than doing their jobs and risking alienating the four groups of poll-takers in their district or state, they use the poll numbers as a form of referendum, and their costume instead becomes that of a sheep.

The result of this poll pandering, unless the trend is reversed, will inevitably lead to an economic meltdown, or worse. Letting polls dictate policy is tantamount to government by referendum, and government by referendum doesn’t work. This is not a slight on the American people, it’s just common sense. We, as individuals, don’t have the time necessary to allow it to work. Representation, under our system, means electing people to make decisions for us – not one-person one-vote on every single issue. Remember, it’s the American people who, in their inherent wisdom, adopted this form of government in the first place. To continue down the legislation by referendum path we are currently on can only end in catastrophe.

… And if you think this all sounds alarmist, just remember one word: ‘California’.

Interesting that you aren't providing links anymore from the articles you steal.

[Cry Havoc]

Interesting that you aren't providing links anymore from the articles you steal.

I think it was obvious he didn't write that. Perhaps he forgot to post the link?

[DarrinS]

There hasn't been a "conservative" in the White House since Reagan. And before that, maybe Kennedy or Eisenhower.

And yes, Kennedy was a conservative. Cut tax rates, supported business...and did a stupid invasion of Cuba. Nixon was a liberal, wage and tax controls, EPA, etc...Bush's were both big spenders, as was every "liberal democrat." Not much difference except on Social issues, which I could give a .... about. Hell, even Reagan had deficits...but, he at least tried to stop it, just didn't have a congress who wanted to stop spending, so he ended up "compromising." pffftttt...

So, there have been no "conservatives" in the white house for a very long time. Politicians all look to spend and grow govt, McCain might as well campaigned as a Democrat...and that's why OBAMA is in. There was no conservative to vote for, so we didn't vote.

Will it change?

Probably not.

"The natural order is for govt to increase at the expense of individual Liberty and Freedom."

Don't remember who that quote was from, but it is accurate. Don't remember anytime where govt has NOT grown. People wanting someone to take care of them, is the natural order of humanity I guess. America was created to try and buck that trend, and all these people wanting to be like "other" countries, forget about why this country was created in the first place. We created this country to NOT be like those other countries. That was the whole idea. And that's why we've been great.

But, the natural order is hard to stop. As is evident from all the people wanting govt to do more and more for them.

and so it goes...



Damn good post.

[SpurNation]

because there's no such thing as real conservatives anymore. All anyone does, both rs and ds, is spend and expand. So-called conservatives these days are obsessed with social issues more than anything else, as opposed to fiscal responsibility and smaller government. I've heard both parties referred to as, "different arms of the mafia, with both reporting back to the same boss". The boss in this case would be $$$$$$$.

bingo!

[Marcus Bryant]

Surprise, surprise. The most leftist member of the US Senate is the most leftist president. And the people don't like it. The joker is a one termer.

[Spursmania]

This really isn't surprising only satisfying.

[Jacob1983]

With the way things are looking right now, Obama's only chance of getting a 2nd term is to hope and pray that Sarah Palin runs in 2012.

[Nbadan]

Yeah, because the GOP has their shit together for 2012....

:rolleyes

[Nbadan]

...oh, that's right, it's gonna be Ron Paul

:lmao

[Wild Cobra]

Not everyone. Confidence among Obamozombiebots has never wavered.
I agree. I don't know any Americans (at heart) that have lost confidence in him because there was none to begin with. Only socialists, fascists, communists, etc. that wanted to see a change to their values are disappointed in him. Not true hearted Americans.

[Jacob1983]

I never said that the GOP had their shit together. The GOP is fucked up right now. However, if Obama continues to suck ass as president then I would say the GOP has a chance in 2012. People voted for Obama because they thought he could fix all of the things that Bush fucked up as president. Sadly, it's not happening and they're just now seeing it. If the economy and unemployment rate are still bad in 2012, I bet you a million dollars that Mitt Romney will run for the GOP and get the nomination. McCain should have picked Mitt Romney as his VP but McCain was a dumbass.

[ChumpDumper]

Romney believes he's going to become a god.

Literally.

Could be a problem.

[Wild Cobra]

Romney believes he's going to become a god.

Literally.

Could be a problem.
Doesn't matter. He doesn't believe that will happen in this lifetime. Why can't you be tolerant of religion?

[ChumpDumper]

I never said it was a problem with me. Why can't you avoid jumping to stupid conclusions?

There are plenty of people who think Mormonism is wacky.

[Jacob1983]

That doesn't sound very tolerant. I thought liberals and Democrats were suppose to be the tolerant ones. Wait a minute, does that only apply if you agree with their ideology and agenda?

[Jacob1983]

I was being sarcastic and poking fun at the massive amount of hypocrisy and double standards of the liberal movement and agenda.

[ChumpDumper]

That doesn't sound very tolerant. I thought liberals and Democrats were suppose to be the tolerant ones. Wait a minute, does that only apply if you agree with their ideology and agenda?I said it could be a problem. It's quite objective.

It's like saying "Jacob1983 is a complete idiot. That could be a problem if he ever runs for office."

[SpurNation]

I tend to vote Democratic nowadays, but that doesn't make me automatically tolerant of anything or organized religion, which is what these people are affiliating themselves with. If people want to believe in an imaginary man in the sky that's their business. As soon as they organize and try to shove it down my throat, they're fair game to be insulted and shot once on my property.

Heck as far as I'm concerned every church in this country could burn down and I wouldn't so much as raise a brow.

Welcome to the ranks of the misguided, self serving, mind erased, zombie nation (world).

This is the exact response and action the evil one tries to instill in the souls of us all in order to draw us away from the faith that He asks us to retain no matter how hard, displeasing and non-gratifying things may become.

There is good and there is evil. In our hearts we know which is which no matter what political or faith based organization we beat our drums for.

We are taught to do or not do but see the opposite from the leaders we want to believe.

From that perspective I have learned that it is not God who is deceiving the world but mankind through it's evil influenced minds. We know in our soul when we see a genuinely good person or bad person regardless of their political or organized religious affiliations. And we know in our soul if we conduct ourselves the same.

In your non caring that if all churches burned down...I would at least hope you don't mean that people are in them while burning?

[Jacob1983]

So if a person tries to share God's word with you, you will shoot them? Would it be a fatal shot or would you just wound them?

[FuzzyLumpkins]

So if a person tries to share God's word with you, you will shoot them? Would it be a fatal shot or would you just wound them?

This is just nindnumbingly stupid. Its called the separation of church and state. Even Locke who was one of the most irritating biblical literalists agreed it was necessary.

It is one thing when it someone on the street and quite another when hes speaking at the RNC as a candidate.

[Jacob1983]

So a person is stupid if they follow Christianity?

[FuzzyLumpkins]

So a person is stupid if they follow Christianity?

Hang out in clouds? 40 virgins? Hang out with other warriors with honor? Your own planet? Peace and harmony?

I personally want my own planet but to each his own.

No, whats stupid is how you fail to see how the separation of church and state applies.