From Nile Gardiner at The Telegraph (h/t reader John):
Instead of hope and change, the Obama presidency has delivered decline and despair on a scale not seen in America since the dying days of the Carter administration. Both at home and abroad, the United States is perceived to be a sinking power, and with good reason.
What I find most dispiriting is not the decline, which as Gardiner notes is not yet irreversible, but that over 40% of the population still approves of the job Obama is doing:
When you consider that some of the people who do not approve of Obama’s performance want him to be more liberal, we’re approaching half the country.
That’s the depressing part, that almost half the country still buys what Obama is selling, or wants more.
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I like to think that people lie to pollsters about our first African-American president.
Also, I’ve conducted an unscientific poll among my friends & relatives and some have told me they would say they like him for fear of retribution since it’s so ugly out there. Paranoid? Yes but there’s a lot of fear & loathing out there.
In happier news, I GOT A JOB!!!! After 3 years out of work! And it’s a good job, in my field and everything. The commute is terrible but who cares, I can’t believe my good fortune. Thanks Professor and fellow readers for keeping me sane during one of the roughest periods of my life.
Good for you, Jeanne.
But now you won’t have time to attend all the OWS rallies! Congrats.
Congratulations, Jeanne!
Even though you’ll be busy, I hope you continue to post … I always enjoy reading what you have to say. Good luck on the new job!
This is a Hit-The-Nail-On-The-Head post.
Remember, since Reagan the country has elected two “compassionate conservatives” from the Bush family, a philandering liberal (Clinton) and a whining liberal (Obama). Though Reagan talked a good game, government expanded under his leadership.
Running against Bush the 1st, Dukakis–a textbook liberal–got 45.6% of the vote.
In 1992 Clinton won with 43% of the vote, but Perot the populist got 18.9%.
In 1996 Clinton won with 49.2% of the vote.
Gore, an off-the-wall liberal, got half a million more votes than Bush the 2nd in 2000.
Kerry, a pompous and arrogant liberal, got 48.3% of the vote in 2004.
Obama the Marxist won with 52.9% of the vote.
This is not a conservative country anymore. Viewed in the light of these numbers, the argument that Mitt Romney is the only electable Republican begins to look sensible.
Why? Five simple words:
What’s in it for me?
Yep, extremely depressing.
I see Lexapro in my future.
I take the Gallup data for exactly what it says. Unfortunately, a significant portion of our population does in fact stand directly behind Obama. I think there are several reasons for this.
First, we still have a lot of people that will sell their soul for a dollar. Look at the union rank and file as they stand directly behind the corrupt thugs that run their unions and bring Democratic voters to the polls en masse. Look at all the teachers who have taken upon themselves the work of indoctrination instead of education. Look at all the government workers that will do their best to frustrate us all in our attempts to do anything within their jurisdiction. These people have created an incredible number of bureaucracies and they will vote for whoever keeps them in their jobs – even to the detriment of our nation. These big government and union people invariably tend to be on the left.
Second, we have too many people that are comfortable with trust funds and inherited money and many of these people are a hindrance to our advancement because they have been isolated from any negative consequences of their wanting behavior by money that never earned. Look at England, as money has been passed down for hundreds of years, their nation has deteriorated into little more than a place where they celebrate their inherited titles of aristocracy in pageants of splendor as their entire nation goes down the tubes.
Third, our culture has not only coarsened, it has severely declined. People that work hard and exhibit a high degree of concern are not as plentiful as they used to be. America was a much better place when most of us had to deal with adversity. We have declined because we were much better equipped to deal with adversity then our new found affluence.
Fourth, too many people used their money to isolate their kids from their wanting behavior and we now have to deal with the spoiled brats who never developed any character and who have no boundaries on their behavior, little understanding of cause and effect and no motivation to do anything meaningful. Have you ever noticed how nearly anything goes with these lazy slugs? Have you ever seen the art they create? Can you see them all at the OWS protests?
Fifth, we became way too PC. There are an excessive number of minorities throughout our nation that are in jobs for which they do not have sufficient intellectual capacity or a proper competency level. We all know this, however, you can’t even talk about it. These people are now like having multiple monkey wrenches in the machinery of American commerce. We can thank the left for this.
Too bad for us.
Democracies don’t always get the government they need, but they always get the one they deserve.
[…] To this Professor Jacobson adds: […]
Jeannebodine….Congrats on the new job. Just goes to show that perserverance will pay off in the end. I think that these folks that still support Obama either love the gravy train (taking other peoples hard earned money, have an in-built chip on their shoulder that envies those who are successful, or worst of all really believe that socialism works. I do think that part of the problem is the indoctrination of our young people in the educational system. Twelve to sixteen years of hard core socialism at a tender age with no opposing voive to balance it out leads to people who exect everyone else to give them a living. it’s sad, but the moocher society is upon us.
Yes, congratulations, Jeanne.
That’s the depressing part, that almost half the country still buys what Obama is selling, or wants more.
1. I have to agree. You recently linked to a poll showing that a strong majority of Ohio voters are well to the left of FDR regarding public-employee unions. Swing-state Ohio, home of Robert Taft.
2. Iirc early in his term Der Arnold tried to rein in California’s public-sector unions via referendum. He was soundly defeated and the state continued its march toward a fiscal precipice. Will Ohio follow suit?
3. Most of the majority would deny it, but we are near or past a time when most Americans want to live in a socialist cesspool.
4. The longer the trend continues, the harder it will be to reverse. The longer the trend continues, if it can be reversed at all, it may take something like the suffering during the Great Depression–or worse. Such suffering would disproportionately affect the very people whom the self-aggrandizing proponents of “fairness” claim they are helping.
Those who touted Obama as a symbol of race progress instead of as an individual on his own merit, now fear their own racist implications if they acknowledge the failure of his administration.
Perhaps the 44% who still approve are much like investors, who have taken a position that turned against them? You know the facts–you’re in the red–but you really hope that all it needs is a little more time and the tide will turn. Hope and fear are the twin monsters that investors battle every day. The vast investment that liberals have made in Obama has turned out to be a disaster. Some will ride it into the ground, others will jump at the last minute, some have already bailed. I would guess that most who voted for this tragedy are embarrassed and hesitant to admit that it took such a short time for their anointed one to fail.
Congratulations, Jeanne. May my son follow your example, the sooner, the better.
I just had an interesting experience, in a focus group for a local news website. It turns out that most of them get their local news from KPBS, which gets all its national news from NPR.
People who get their national news from NPR have a very skewed idea of what’s happening in this country, mainly because NPR spikes and spins like the New York Times.
“…That’s the depressing part, that almost half the country still buys what Obama is selling, or wants more….
I know many ‘over the 40%’ types. But only 50% of my 40% are likely voters. So that’s really 20%. The other 20%, I’ve managed to convert + wean off NPR.
Make your 40% an outreach priority in 2012.
Congress has something like a 12% approval rating, but people still vote in their own smiling congressman election after election. I think this explains a large part of the disparity between Obama’s rank and the generic faceless congress rank. Most disagree with his policies, but he is such a nice well spoken black man, and is trying so hard.
Another 15% factor is probably major media, along with public school indoctrination. The bombardment of propaganda on many levels is constant. And most just don’t have time or inclination to delve into blogs that require thinking and reading. It’s far easier to listen to Jon Stewart as a source of entertainment and news. He’s another nice smiling face … “surely Jon is fair and balanced, unlike those evil FOX jerks”
That may be yet another angle … demonizing conservatives with chants is a great mob mentality activity (Coulter’s book “Demonic” points to this) … fun and easy to join the mob of politically correct know-it-alls, and join in “Hate-Week”. This may be rooted in some national psychosis … gawd … it really IS depressing. 🙂
Gardiner was one of the few journalists who never bought the deal.
Bloggers complain that his articles are all the same – as if it is up to Gardiner to see the light .
American elections are mostly too idiosyncratic for outsiders to comprehend. Stone age tribes have propelled themselves into better voting systems in 50 years than America has in 250..
In Papua New Guinea newly independent cannibals in penis gourds were voting in fair & equal elections & able to count votes decades ahead of Florida.
Strange but true & not a god reflection on american elections.
[…] What I find most dispiriting is not the decline, which as Gardiner notes is not yet irreversible, but that over 40% of the population still approves of the job Obama is doing. […]