Lack-Of-Progress Report: Obama At 6 Months

Michael Novak: We've Seen Enough: The President No Longer Persuades

(National Review Online)  Michael Novak’s latest book is No One Sees God.

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After six months in the Oval Office, Pres. Barack Obama has a lower job-approval rating than did ten of the last twelve presidents at the same point in their presidencies. Rasmussen reports that the daily tracking poll of the president's popular standing shows eleven points negative: Twenty-eight percent "strongly approve" and 39 percent "strongly disapprove."

The support for his signature issue, health-care "reform," is falling by the day. The more that Americans learn about it, the more revulsion they feel against it. His big stimulus bill has not delivered what he said it would. A giveaway stimulus is the Democrats' usual alternative to tax cuts, on the theory of "increase demand" as opposed to "increase supply." Unemployment in a few important states has now soared to 17 percent, and nationally it has risen close to 10 percent.

Further, while Obama still ranks high in personal popularity, his numbers have fallen from percentages in the high 60s down to the low 50s, and are still dropping. His policies are much disliked: unimaginably high deficits, ever-greater state controls over industry after industry, a certain preference for raw leftist ideology over the needs and feelings of ordinary people.

For instance, Obama showed a cool insouciance recently in telling a televised citizens' forum that some older patients must hereafter consider whether the health care they are now receiving is really helping them, and perhaps begin to reconcile themselves to giving it up. This means condemning themselves to an earlier and perhaps more painful death. Is complete government control, even of the time of death, supposed to be "reform"?

In a recent dust-up between an African-American Harvard professor and a local Irish-American policeman (of high reputation), Obama made the foolish mistake in a press conference of defending his "friend," the black professor, and calling the local police (in the person of this one cop) "stupid."

The great class division in American life is no longer between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat (since there is no longer any proletariat, only one huge middle class). It is now between the highly educated elite and the ordinary people of family and neighborhood and common work. So, in calling the cop stupid, Obama pulled the veil back on his own Harvard arrogance. A huge public outcry forced him to step back and telephone both men in order to make peace. To make himself seem like an ordinary guy (the cop, not the professor), he even invited both men to the White House to have "a beer." Too late! This sudden flash of self-revelation about his own class consciousness was exactly what everyone had suspected for some time.

It was the sergeant who suggested having a beer together (not wine and cheese), and he was the coolest of the three in ordering a Blue Moon. (Blue is the color of cops, and Moon is real, real cool.) I gave the first two rounds to him. Then, in the third round, watching his dignity and unblinking integrity (with the strength of tens of thousands of policemen standing behind him), I gave him round three running away.

This iron-jawed Sergeant Crowley is the man they called racist and hotheaded and stupid. They got the wrong man. They made the wrong charge. The president and the professor came out of this with lower universal esteem, the sergeant with higher, far higher.

Thus, once again, below the president's honeyed, highfalutin ways of speaking, there is revealed a pretension that is becoming insufferable, a sense of moral and class superiority in office, which he has not yet earned. Moreover, when he is on his own, without speechwriters, Obama is surprisingly unimpressive. He is rambling, fairly boring, error-prone, evasive, and not well-informed.

In addition, President Obama seems to be unable to admit error, to apologize, or to voice what all can see to be true. "Calibrated" is a word he often hides behind, as when he brushed off his insulting remark about the Cambridge policeman - as if he, President Obama, did not use an inexcusable insult. No, the president's words were wrong, not just imprecisely "calibrated." Try to figure out the correct calibration of "stupid."

President Obama no longer persuades.

[rhinoclint]

Cudos to CBS!!! i believe that we should all be prepared for the next scenerio to unfold. the town hall outbursts consist mainly of the citizens that feel that they are losing their health care benefits. sooner or later the citizens that feel that they are gaining benefits are going to show up too. then what happens????

[hungry1968-16]

by jgg00000008 August 6, 2009 6:13 PM EDT
problem is obama has no plans. He had no plan for gitmo. He has no plans for the wars. He has no plans for north korea or Iran, he has no health plan. He never provides details or specifics about ANYTHING.







Gitmo is closing, the Iraq War is ending with a TIMELINE in place to end the war, we're FINALLY fighting the terrorists in Afghanistan, he kept his mouth shut on Iran which was absolutely the right move, he let Bill Clinton masterfully handle North Korea, and the health plan is being drafted in the congress and senate.


Have you been in a coma for the last six months?

[revlin1]

Only an ADMIN that has something to HIDE would continue to "sniff out" American citizens and start a "snitch squad". I guess if you have enough "skeletons" in your own closet YOU GO LOOKING IN EVERYONE ELSES? This guy needs to be sent back to Chicago where he belongs. He is a perfect match for that "culture" and NO MATCH for America!

[deaas]

I believe that every president and cronies spend millions to get the power, have a plan to acomplish. Bush and his team had their own, now Obama and his team have their's. Politics is the game of the clevers to rule the simples. I am sure that Bush was very successful for his plan and Obama wiil be for his plan. We, the people, are the tools for their game.

[redwilma]

It's like the Republicans have all lost their minds! They've just gone crazy. Totally uninterested in Americans' welfare. Interested in only regaining power -- at any cost. Unbelievable that we voted these guys (and some women) to make such important decisions for us.

[hungry1968-16]

Why do they even bother publishing anything from NRO?

They'd get much more credible reporting from "The Star" or "The National Enquirer", than they would this rag.

[rhs648]

The Washington Post had an interesting article about Obama supporters who now wish they hadn't voted for Obama. The cracks in the mirror are growing by the day. The author of this article hit the nail on the head. President Obama's approval ratings are dropping as people begin to doubt his programs.

[fitasc]

And anyone with a real "birth Cert." would have pulled it out of the drawer a long time ago!!
The real question is are the "Ostrich's" going to get their heads out by 2010 and 2012??

[veritas_1212]

Birther alert! Birther alert! We've got a live one, folks. Amazing.

[polisigh]

What is it about conservative Republicans and guys in uniforms? The government is awful, insurance companies are great, health insurance is dangerous but the Iraqi War makes fiscal sense. NRO makes no sense. Palin is qualified to be president but Sotomayor should not serve on the Supreme Court.
It will take a bit longer to save the nation from the tri-Texas school of economics of Bush, Armey and Gramm.
And where is Bush's military records?

[imnho]

This from a reporter who gave no pause before he outed a covert CIA agent and compromised the countries abilty to get good intellgence in the middle east.

[noloyalisti]

Remember you are reading something from the National Republican Order. An organization who has zero credibility. They were backing the invasions for oil, the Bushoccio Crime Family and are self acclaimed conservatives. That means you never question your assumptions, regardless of the facts. Whatever you think is right because how could you be wrong? Touche' NRO.

[fitasc]

Two kinds of people voted for Obama, Ostrich's and Socialists..

[wheeljc]

Well, this is not 'leadership' coming from the White House. It is a bad day when government tries to depress dissent!

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2009/08/gop-senator-white-house-encroaching-on-first-amendment.html

As a member of Congress told Rahm Emanuel earlier this week, "This is not Chicago!"

He had so much promise -- but like a snowflake, it has melted!

[veritas_1212]

wheeljc writes: "It is a bad day when government tries to depress dissent! "

OK, I read the article you point out. It seems to me it is the Republican congressman who is trying to curtail freedom of speech. I should be able to send an email to whoever I want, including the President. Nothing here suggests the govt. is suppressing dissent. Why shouldn't they want to respond to misconceptions and disinformation about the health care plans ?

[specialty8]

Obamas failure is all Bushes fault "I inherited it".

[veritas_1212]

Obama is doing quite well, thank you, even if he did inherit a raft of problems from his predecessor. Things are starting to look up.

Wonder if the corporate fascists pay these right wing posters by the word?

[bciss]

So apparently no one has learned anything,,,, how shocking. Obama lovers swear all is just fine and these are horrid lies,, LIES I tell you. Mmmm,K. Now go check some actual facts and try again. Then there are the tried and true Bush lover muffins. The man is and was a war criminal who should be in prison or hung for treason and crimes against both humanity and the constitution. The really scary and tragic in a darkly comical way,, is they are for the most part exactly the same. They are both horrible people and have no real interest in the well being of average people (news flash nor foes the vast majority of congress/senate). We are little more then cattle to their way of thinking. The evidence is abundant against both. Yet people still refuse to see the truth and admit they were wrong. I know why,, because to do so would mean to admit the very foundations of our country are rotted and crumbling. Which is scary. We have been taken over and this country is run for the benefit of a very very small group of uber wealthy and powerful. There is no real dif between the two major political parties. It is the grandest of good cop bad cop games. Wake up and pay attention people,,, something is horribly horribly wrong.

[veritas_1212]

bciss writes: "The really scary and tragic in a darkly comical way,, is they are for the most part exactly the same. They are both horrible people and have no real interest in the well being of average people"

I find this to be an absolutely shocking and totally indefensible statement! Obama is a good man and has spent his whole life trying to help "average people". Even if you disagree with his policies, you should at least be able to recognize his good intentions.

An assessment of Bush's character is beside the point here, so I will refrain from making one.

[veritas_1212]

The article says: "His big stimulus bill has not delivered what he said it would."

He never said it would deliver everything within the first 5-6 months! Obama gave ample warnings that recovery from the economic crisis would be slow and that significant unemployment would persist for some months and would be the last thing to show signs of recovery. Some tentative signs of recovery are starting to show and it's all going about as Obama said it was likely to. It is completely disingenuous for Novak to claim that the stimulus bill has been a failure.

[veritas_1212]

No one said the solution to the economic crisis was going to be easy or come quickly. There is the debt/deficit problem (of which Obama is highly aware and very concernbed) and the potential problem of inflation in the future. The real question should be, was there a viable alternative to the stimulus package given the dire situation the economy was faced with ? Some highly knowledgable economists (e.g. Nobel prize winner Paul Krugman) think the stimulus wasn't nearly big enough. Since we'd never been faced with a comparable situation, no one could know for sure what the effects of any plan could be. Obama and the economists advising him took all relevant info into account and came up with the best plan they could. It was passed by the Congress. It may or may not work as hoped. It now seems the crisis situation was even worse than people knew at the time (Feb.). In any case, Obama did what he did, not because he's a "socialist" but to try to save our economy from total collapse. Since the worst possible progression of the crisis seems to have been averted, critics of the President seem to forget the problem for which the stimulus plan was the hoped for solution. More time is needed to truly access how successful the plan will be, but it was put forward with good intentions, not for ideological reasons. It is unfair to say that Obama "just likes to spend spend spend".

IS THIS A JOKE? IS THIS IDIOT THE SON OF ROBERT NOVAK?

The recession is receding!
We will have Healthcare for everybody!
The world is forgiving us for Bush!
Iran and North Korea are warming to us again.
We are getting out of Iraq!
We are helping regular people instead of the top 1% bush base!
The financial crisis is over!
The constitution is being restored!

Obama inherited impending doom and he has restored hope!

If you don't want to help then get out of the way!

[riv686]

I'm really surprised that CBS and NRO are even running this story. They will now be labeled as extremists which is what those who don't agree with Obama's policies are being called these days. I find it funny (and scary) that NO ONE goes against King Obama, not the press, not the Dems, is it fear? Obama's staff, the Dems, the press all remind me of bobblehead dolls. Is there no freedom of speach anymore. Are we only being fed what we need to know and when it's not what the bobbleheads want you to know or hear it's swept under a rug for some "extremist" to find and be discredited for finding it?

[veritas_1212]

riv686 writes: "I find it funny (and scary) that NO ONE goes against King Obama, not the press, not the Dems, is it fear? "

I don't get it. Right here we have a press article which is critical of Obama (and there are many others), yet riv686 says the press are afraid to go against "King Obama". (Hint: he's not a king). A whole subfaction of Congressional Democrats (the "Blue Dogs") has stood apart and questioned health insurance reform issues promoted by Obama -- yet riv686 claims Dems are "afraid" to go against Obama. Clearly, they are not afraid to do so. It is this kind of specious analysis claiming there is "no freedom of speech anymore" that has people questioning the motives and integrity of some within the Republican party. Where are the Republican ideas for how to reform health care ? Why don't Republicans present them, rather than continually complain that they aren't being "allowed" to present them because everyone is so "biased".

[veritas_1212]

Marc 1986 writes: "Republicans had an idea for healthcare, tax credits."

Since 1/3 of Americans pay no taxes, how would this work ? Those on the lower end of the income scale tend to be the ones who don't currently have health insurance. So how would tax credits help them ?

Marc writes: "But Obama/Libs would rather subsidize it and give it to everyone for free. "

No, not for free. Everyone would be required to pay at least something. For the poor, the rest would be subsidized. The idea is that with a larger pool of premium payers, costs would come down. If you currently have a plan you like, you can keep it.

[veritas_1212]

Marc1986 asks: "How many people reading these forums actually heard of the term 'Blue Dog' before a few weeks ago?"

Yeah, I had. It's an old term. But I hadn't heard it for awhile.

[borg99]

I sure am seeing a lot of right-wing opinion pieces here these days. Did Murdoch buy CBS?

Unless this network wants to become known as another Fox News (i.e., a branch of the Republican National Committee), it should balance the right-wing columns we so often see here with plenty of other viewpoints from America's broad political spectrum. Otherwise, CBS is just another instance of America's corporate-controlled press, which doesn't publish anything that could possibly interfere with corporate interests.