The mood of the electorate has changed
The Waffle House in Columbia, South Carolina gives one an interesting panoramic view of the American electorate–a microcosm of the U.S. population. Here there are white-collar government types, blue collar whites, African-Americans, Hispanics, the works.
Conversations over the past week in this popular gathering place have centered on Barack Obama and the state of the economy.
South Carolina has one of the highest rates of unemployment in the nation, which spiked up by .3% in December to 12.6%. December’s unemployment figures for the entire nation continued to move upward, in spite of the jobs created by the holiday season.
The consensus at the Waffle House is that the present state of affairs is the consequence of Barack Obama’s misguided policies.
Even among African-Americans and Hispanics the President receives mixed reactions as many blacks have come to the conclusion that Obama has failed to keep his many promises.
Citizens in this great nation are smart enough to know that an incoming President is not to be blamed for failures of policy…for the first 10 months or so of his term of office. They may even be gracious enough to grant a new President up to a year. But after that, it’s an entirely new ballgame. At that point the President ‘owns’ the economy, the jobless rate, and any other perceived failures of the government.
And it is clear that the present crisis in the stock market, the housing and mortgage industry, the banking business, and the overall jobs market now belongs fully to Barack Obama–not George W. Bush.
The national figures confirm the feelings expressed by the folk at the Waffle House.
Scott Rasmussen’s latest Presidential tracking poll shows that fully 55% of Americans now disapprove of Obama’s job performance, and among Democrats he only manages to garner a 48% approval rating. Obama’s overall numbers are dismal. Only 24% strongly approve of his job performance while 43% strongly disapprove.
The Feds are continuing to shut down banks across the country as financial institutions from Florida to Washington State have failed.
Meanwhile, the Financial Times of Londonreports that Obama’s nightmare that began last week will only continue as support for Fed Chair Ben Bernacke deteriorates even among Democrats and as the overall chances for the President to get his policies approved by Congress grow increasingly dim.
And even the Obama-friendly CNN was forced to admit that the thrill and excitement generated by Obama in the recent past is now gone.
The upshot of all of this is that the mood of the American people toward this President and his policies has changed drastically in a very short period of time, thus showing that the diverse group at the Columbia Waffle House is much smarter than we might think.
President Obama and the people in his administration are not helping their own cause and there are a couple of reasons for this. First and foremost, the policies they are implementing are completely opposite of what our country needs. As you pointed out, the American people are smarter than some people give them credit for. Secondly, no one likes a cry baby or a spoil sport and the entire administration is continually trying to point their fingers at George W. Bush. Admittedly, Bush had a lot of bad economic policy, but sooner or later, this administration has to start taking credit for the damage they have done themselves.