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   Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Gnter Grass still thinks reunification was a bad idea.
 Forty years of writing from Taylor Branch, James Fallows, Katherine Boo, Marjorie Williams, Joshua Micah Marshall, and more.
 With help from Washington, the for-profit college industry is loading up millions of low-income students with debt they'll never pay off.
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July 20, 2009
PRESIDENT'S SUPPORT STILL SOFTENING.... A new Washington Post-ABC News poll offers some discouraging news for the White House, but not all of the news was bad. Overall, President Obama's approval rating stands at 59%, similar to the latest results from Gallup. It's the first time he's slipped below the 60% plateau in this poll, but all things being equal, 59% is still fairly strong support. The president's approval ratings on specific issue areas has slipped -- his strongest support is on U.S. policy in Afghanistan, his weakest is in dealing with the budget deficit -- but his leadership attributes remain high.  The president's GOP detractors will no doubt be pleased by these results, but on some key areas, Obama is still strongly favored over Republicans. While the gaps have narrowed a bit, the president has a 23-point lead over the minority part on economic policy, a 20-point lead on health care, and a 19-point lead on the deficit. Overall, just 36% approve of how Republicans in Congress are doing their job -- 11 percentage points lower than the congressional majority. By comparison, at this point in Clinton's first term, Republicans were far more competitive -- Clinton led the GOP, for example, on the economy by just five points (45% to 40%) at this point in 1993. Specifically on health care, poll respondents were asked, "Thinking about health care, one proposal to insure nearly everyone would require all Americans to have health insurance or pay a penalty on their income tax, excluding those with lower incomes. It would require most employers to offer health coverage or pay a fee. There would be a government-run plan to compete with private insurers. And income taxes on people earning more than 280-thousand dollars a year would be raised to help fund the program. Taken together, would you support or oppose this plan? Do you feel that way strongly or somewhat?" Despite the wording of the question, 54% said they support this plan as it was described. The support was higher among Democrats and independents. Overall, it's obvious that Obama's support has slipped, which is not surprising. Economic conditions are still awful in much of the country; the president has not had a major legislative success story in a while; and it's understandable that the public would start to feel anxious and impatient. But in context, a 59% approval rating is quite strong under the circumstances, and Obama's leads over the GOP should send a signal to policymakers about which direction the nation would prefer to go. —Steve Benen 8:35 AM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (15)Comments
http://www.fitmyfit.com/class.asp?lx=big&anid=24 his weakest is in dealing with the budget deficit What?! He's only been on the job for six months. The deficit is wholly owned by Bush. That's some good propaganda people are swallowing. Other than that, Obama should be sinking. It seems his greatest ambition is to be Clinton without the Clenis. Let corporations and fatcats lord it over the rest of us, reach out to GOP criminals and deal with real problems as incrementally as possible. Posted by: henry lewis on July 20, 2009 at 8:53 AM | PERMALINKi'm surprised his numbers aren't lower, considering how the chattering class can't wait to pounce on the latest unemployment numbers, foreclosures, etc. and then devote hours and hours of yammering about how under pressure obama is from 'centrist' democrats and concerned republicans. Posted by: linda on July 20, 2009 at 9:07 AM | PERMALINKIt seems his greatest ambition is to be Clinton without the Clenis. Let corporations and fatcats lord it over the rest of us, reach out to GOP criminals and deal with real problems as incrementally as possible. The Democrats seem to be congenitally incapable of seeing the problem with this (or more to the point, they're handsomely bribed to NOT see it.) It makes it incredibly easy for the right to say to voters, "The Democrats want to take your tax dollars and give them to X, Y and Z, but what's in it for YOU?" Posted by: Steve LaBonne on July 20, 2009 at 9:12 AM | PERMALINKMr LaBonne, let me fix that for you - instead of S, Y and Z, just insert Goldman Sachs. Some of the administration's financial movements have been akin to placing Frank Nitti, Bugsy Siegel and Lucky Luciano on the Anti-Crime Commission. Posted by: berttheclock on July 20, 2009 at 9:50 AM | PERMALINKObama took over during America's overall lowest point in a half century. So many issues to contend with, etc. That his numbers aren't lower, just given the situation, is nothing short of miraculous. As time marches on, his numbers will dip lower and lower. It's normal, given that it's going to take so long to turn this thing around. Posted by: chrenson on July 20, 2009 at 10:01 AM | PERMALINKThe quote of the first half of the first year of Obama's presidency:
My approval rating for Obama would go up if he quit fooling around with "bipartisanship" and just went all-in to just do things right. Posted by: qwerty on July 20, 2009 at 11:14 AM | PERMALINKguess i'm an outlier cause "The president's strongest support is on U.S. policy in Afghanistan, his weakest is in dealing with the budget deficit," is the opposite of the way i feel about those issues... and on the health care question as asked...i'd have given it a thumbs down....a big messy solution to a problem with a very simple solution : single payer.... Posted by: dj spellchecka on July 20, 2009 at 11:33 AM | PERMALINKps to the moderator...the first comment in this thread is spam...cleanup, please Posted by: dj spellchecka on July 20, 2009 at 11:34 AM | PERMALINKI think it's good if the numbers come down a bit. Nothing else will get Obama and Dums to make good on campaign promises and realize that the electorate are not going to be sheep anymore. Why do you think that Obama is seemingly being less passive about healthcare now? The Dums need to know that if people are disappointed, after having their hopes raised, that there will be consequences, the best of which is apathy and the worst is opposition. I'm an independent now because I'm sick of the Dums being the Rethug enablers. Fool me once, like the Royal Moron said, won't be fooled again.... Posted by: Frak on July 20, 2009 at 11:58 AM | PERMALINKIn 1992, Clinton won the presidency thanks to Ross Perot taking 19% of the vote, most of which would have probably gone to Bush. Clinton got 43% of the vote to Bush's 37.4%. Therefore, Clinton started off with much less public support than Obama did and also the House Republicans hadn't held the majority for 40 years straight! Voters were sick and tired of the Democrats in the Congress...just as they are like they are with the Republicans today. The 1993 vs 2009 polling comparison, therefore, isn't particularly useful in understanding where we are headed in 2010. All we can do is continue to watch this situation unfold. What we do know is the more things change the more they stay the same. Posted by: Joe on July 20, 2009 at 1:03 PM | PERMALINKNote there were no questions regarding civil liberies which is where Obama is losing major support and causing mistrust in other areas. Also, the more Obama pulls in Goldman-Sachs opportunists to handle the economy the less he is trusted again. This affects his overall approval rating but this poll only gave 3 areas to express non approval. Run those two questions and watch how it affects every other area of Obama's approval ratings. Posted by: bjobotts on July 20, 2009 at 1:11 PM | PERMALINKbtw...Why hasn't Obama replaced the Bush USAs already. How can we de-Bushify the government when he refuses to even make that basic change....eh Benen?? If the media never asks or even mentions this factor how will it ever get changed or do we have to wait until Rove's revenge is complete first? Posted by: bjobotts on July 20, 2009 at 1:17 PM | PERMALINKPolls keep showing Obama at "new lows" but those "new lows" never seem to get any lower. Obama broke under 60% in the daily Gallup poll months ago, but in the latest one he was at 61% Posted by: will on July 20, 2009 at 7:20 PM | PERMALINKPost a comment
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