Obama's Jewish Problem Isn't Messaging It Is The Message Itself

After the upset in New York's 9th District special election, where the Republican candidate took a reliable Democratic seat that Dems have held for almost nine decades, and many pointing to the Jewish vote in that district as the tipping point, along with other factors such as the economy.
Barack Obama has finally begun to understand that Obama has problem with the Jewish vote.

The New York Times explains what the Obama team plans to do about their Jewish problem:

Sensing trouble, the Obama campaign and Democratic Party leaders have mobilized to solidify the president’s standing with Jewish voters. The Democratic National Committee has established a Jewish outreach program. The campaign is singling out Jewish groups, donors and other supporters with calls and e-mails to counter the Republican narrative that Mr. Obama is hostile to Israel.

Among those efforts is a multi-page set of talking points circulated last Friday with the title, “President Obama’s Stance on Israel: Myths vs. Facts.” David Axelrod, a close Obama adviser, has sent e-mails to Jewish voters, pointing them to a speech by the Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak, praising Mr. Obama and saying he had deepened the military cooperation between the United States and Israel.

The problem with this approach is Obama's inability to tell the difference between a messaging problem and his offensive handling of one of our closest allies in the Middle East, Israel.

It isn't and hasn't been that Obama or his team didn't explain his message well enough, the problem lies with the message itself which has been on public display since before Obama even took office.

WSJ carefully presents what the Jewish community has seen from Obama and his team since 2008:

• February 2008: When running for president, then-Sen. Obama told an audience in Cleveland: "There is a strain within the pro-Israel community that says unless you adopt an unwavering pro-Likud approach to Israel that you're anti-Israel." Likud had been out of power for two years when Mr. Obama made this statement. At the time the country was being led by the centrist Kadima government of Ehud Olmert, Tzipi Livni and Shimon Peres, and Prime Minister Olmert had been pursuing an unprecedented territorial compromise. As for Likud governments, it was under Likud that Israel made its largest territorial compromises—withdrawals from Sinai and Gaza.

• July 2009: Mr. Obama hosted American Jewish leaders at the White House, reportedly telling them that he sought to put "daylight" between America and Israel. "For eight years"—during the Bush administration—"there was no light between the United States and Israel, and nothing got accomplished," he declared.

Nothing? Prime Minister Ariel Sharon uprooted thousands of settlers from their homes in Gaza and the northern West Bank and deployed the Israeli army to forcibly relocate their fellow citizens. Mr. Sharon then resigned from the Likud Party to build a majority party based on a two-state consensus.

In the same meeting with Jewish leaders, Mr. Obama told the group that Israel would need "to engage in serious self-reflection." This statement stunned the Americans in attendance: Israeli society is many things, but lacking in self-reflection isn't one of them. It's impossible to envision the president delivering a similar lecture to Muslim leaders.

September 2009: In his first address to the U.N. General Assembly, President Obama devoted five paragraphs to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, during which he declared (to loud applause) that "America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements." He went on to draw a connection between rocket attacks on Israeli civilians with living conditions in Gaza. There was not a single unconditional criticism of Palestinian terrorism.

• March 2010: During Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Israel, a Jerusalem municipal office announced plans for new construction in a part of Jerusalem. The president launched an unprecedented weeks-long offensive against Israel. Mr. Biden very publicly departed Israel.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton berated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a now-infamous 45-minute phone call, telling him that Israel had "harmed the bilateral relationship." (The State Department triumphantly shared details of the call with the press.) The Israeli ambassador was dressed-down at the State Department, Mr. Obama's Middle East envoy canceled his trip to Israel, and the U.S. joined the European condemnation of Israel.

Moments after Mr. Biden concluded his visit to the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority held a ceremony to honor Dalal Mughrabi, who led one of the deadliest Palestinian terror attacks in history: the so-called Coastal Road Massacre that killed 38, including 13 children and an American. The Obama administration was silent. But that same day, on ABC, Mr. Axelrod called Israel's planned construction of apartments in its own capital an "insult" and an "affront" to the United States. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs went on Fox News to accuse Mr. Netanyahu of "weakening trust" between the two countries.

Ten days later, Mr. Netanyahu traveled to Washington to mend fences but was snubbed at a White House meeting with President Obama—no photo op, no joint statement, and he was sent out through a side door.

• April 2010: Mr. Netanyahu pulled out of the Obama-sponsored Washington summit on nuclear proliferation after it became clear that Turkey and Egypt intended to use the occasion to condemn the Israeli nuclear program, and Mr. Obama would not intervene.

• March 2011: Mr. Obama returned to his habit of urging Israelis to engage in self-reflection, inviting Jewish community leaders to the White House and instructing them to "search your souls" about Israel's dedication to peace.

• May 2011: The State Department issued a press release declaring that the department's No. 2 official, James Steinberg, would be visiting "Israel, Jerusalem, and the West Bank." In other words, Jerusalem is not part of Israel. Later in the month, only hours before Mr. Netanyahu departed from Israel to Washington, Mr. Obama delivered his Arab Spring speech, which focused on a demand that Israel return to its indefensible pre-1967 borders with land swaps.

There is no doubt that the majority of the Jewish vote will go to Democrats in 2012, they are reliably Democrats, but a 10 to 15 percent drop could very well damage Obama's chances in his bid for reelection when added to the economy and unemployment problems he faces around the country and the drop of support for Obama in every other demographic across the board.

Ben Smith at The Politico provides some insight from Jeff Ballabon, a media executive and Republican figure who's been involved for years in pulling Orthodox Jewish to the GOP and in very hawkish Israel politics, whom he ran into at Bob Turner's victory party:

All the distinguishing characteristics aside, the numbers in NY9 were so extraordinary that the lame "a majority of Jews will always vote for the Democrat" spin by Schumer and DWS is just beside the point. The point is that there suddenly is a significant (at least 10-15%, maybe more) swing in play in the overall Jewish population in Florida and elsewhere. The point is that they suddenly need to raise a ton more cash to fight in a whole bunch of new places And the point is that their leader's approach to the economy has left less cash available and fewer people willing to give it.

As far as what actually drove yesterday's numbers, Jews (Orthodox and otherwise) are as fed up by President Obama's handling of the economy as is every group in America. Layered on top for us is the one-two punch of his abysmal treatment of Israel and, in particular for the frum [more observant] community, the shock over New York's strident move to change the definition of marriage. All three contributed to an incredible upset for Obama and the Democrats, but it's clear that any two of them would have been enough.

Finally, the other thing that's changed is that nobody is afraid of being called a racist anymore. The guy is just not working out and even people who still like him know it. In fact everyone seems to know he's in the wrong job, except for him. You could almost feel sympathy for the guy, if you weren't so wrapped up in the misery of your own financial meltdown while being forced to watch him pontificate and point fingers between his golf outings and extravagant vacations.

Representative Eliot L. Engel, Democrat of New York, confirms:

“For a while now, I’ve been hearing from my constituents a lot of dissatisfaction with the statements on Israel that have been coming from the president and the administration,” said Representative Eliot L. Engel, Democrat of New York. “He’ll still get a majority of Jewish votes, but I would not be surprised to see that drop 10 to 20 points.”

The nub of the problem, Mr. Engel said, is that Mr. Obama tends to blame Israel and the Palestinians equally for the impasse in the Middle East — an equivalence many Jewish voters find objectionable. He said this visceral reaction prevented Jews from giving the president credit for the positive aspects of his policy.

Obama has a Jewish problem and his campaign, using all his White House resources, cannot undo his actual record (now that he has one) and they can claim he has been misrepresented all they want, but Obama's own speeches, his own actions and his administration's own record over the last 2 1/2 years, is what he will be judged on.

What Democrats and especially Barack Obama doesn't seem to understand is that it isn't a messaging problem at all, it is the message itself that is unpopular.

Until they get that basic concept through their thick skulls, they are going to continue to lose support.

Update- Additional note: I am not Orthodox nor even a practicing Jew, but I am an American-Jew and I see Obama's actions against Israel as offensive, not so much in a personal way, but offensive towards Israel.

Cartoon at the top by Jerry Holbert, via Townhall.

NY Special Election: Turner's Victory Speech and Weprin's Concession Statement

Video below is of Bob Turner's victory speech:



Partial text from video above, via Gothamist.

"We have lit one candle today. It’s going to be a bonfire pretty soon. We’ve been asked by the people of this district to send a message to Washington — and I hope they hear it loud and clear: Mr. President, we are on the wrong track. We've had it with your irresponsible fiscal policy which endangers the entire economy and every one of our social safety nets. We have had it with your treatment of Israel... We are unhappy. I am the messenger. Heed us."

Text of David Weprin's statement on his concession to Bob Turner in NY-9, Via NYDailyNews.

I just called Bob Turner to congratulate him on a well-fought campaign. He will now have the honor of representing Brooklyn and Queens in Congress, and I hope that he will work every day to represent all of the diverse communities that make up the 9th Congressional district.

I’m incredibly proud of the campaign that we ran, and incredibly grateful to the countless volunteers who worked day after day to bring our message to voters. In doing so we raised the profile of issues like Medicare, Sohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifcial Security, and tax relief for working families – issues that will be of critical importance for the next Congress.

Though we may not have won, our work is far from over. The challenges that face our nation are many, and I will continue to work with all of my supporters to ensure that middle class New Yorkers have a real voice in our city, our state, and our country.

Related:

Ridiculous NY-09 spin: “It's a very difficult district for Democrats”

Associated Press Changing Headlines To Protect Barack Obama?

For Democrats, It's 2010 All Over Again

Twin defeats spark Democratic fears

Revenge of the Jews?

After Turner Earthquake in Weiner District, Democrats' Civil War Against Obama Begins

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CNN Poll: Republicans Believe Perry Has Best Chance To Beat Obama

Rick Perry news this morning comes by way of a new CNN poll which shows that Republicans think Governor Rick Perry has the best chance to beat Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election with a double digit lead on all other GOP candidates.

Other findings:

"Perry doesn't simply have the most support in a hypothetical ballot - he also tops the list of GOP candidates on every personal quality tested," adds Holland.

Thirty-six percent, for example, see him as the strongest leader in the field, with Romney second at 21 percent. According to the poll, 35 percent say Perry is the Republican candidate most likely to get the economy moving again, with Romney in second at 26 percent.

Nearly three in ten say that Perry is the candidate who is most likely to fight for his beliefs, with Palin in second place at 23 percent and, significantly, Romney in a distant tie for fourth at just 11 percent.

But Perry's biggest strength may be the electability factor, with 42 percent saying he has the best chance of beating Obama next year. Some 26 percent say Romney has the best chance of defeating the president.

"That may go a very long way toward explaining his rise in the polls, since three-quarters of all Republicans say they would prefer a candidate who can beat President Obama over one who agrees with them on major issues," says Holland.

Concerning for Perry, is likability factor where one in four rate him well, especially if he does end up winning the GOP nomination.

While Barack Obama receives high disapproval ratings on all key issues , his personal likability still rates well.

Voters like the man, they just think he is doing a bad job as President.

If Obama and Perry go head to head in 2012, voters would have to decide if they prefer someone that can get the job done or someone they like but has proven he cannot do the job.

Perry, via USA Today, has a piece where he explains the truth behind his Social Security messaging:

These are the hard facts: Social Security's unfunded liability is calculated in the trillions of dollars. Last year, annual Social Security outlays exceeded annual revenues for the first time since 1983. The Congressional Budget Office projects that outlays will be roughly 5% greater than revenues over the next five years, worsening as more and more Baby Boomers retire.

By 2037, retirees will only get roughly 76 cents back for every dollar that is put into Social Security unless reforms are implemented. Imagine how long a traditional retirement or investment plan could survive if it projected investors would lose 24% of their money?

I am going to be honest with the American people. Our elected leaders must have the strength to speak frankly about entitlement reform if we are to right our nation's financial course and get the USA working again.

This is a hard topic for any candidate because as soon as they address Social Security reform, their opponents, whether they are GOP rivals or opposing party rivals instantly start screaming "he hates old people" or "he wants to kill grandma".

Perry's honesty may be paying off though in his refusal to back down on the topic as Campaign 2012 points out, the CNN poll shows a high level of support for Perry from GOP voters age 65 and older.

In a new CNN poll that finds Perry at the front of the Republican pack, the Texas governor's lead among GOP voters age 65 and older is actually bigger than his lead among younger voters. Fifty-two percent of respondents over 65 say Perry is their choice for president, versus just 21 percent who choose Romney. In the overall numbers, Perry leads Romney 32 percent to 21 percent, with Ron Paul following at 13 percent, Bachmann and Gingrich at seven percent each, Herman Cain at six percent, and Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum at two percent each.

Republican voters over 65 also believe Perry has the best chance of defeating President Obama in next year's general election. Perry leads Romney 58 percent to 22 percent among older voters on that question.

Breaking down the age results in different categories, Perry leads Romney by 24 percent to 19 percent among GOP voters under 50. Among GOP voters 50 and older, Perry leads Romney by 41 percent to 22 percent

Stanley Kurtz from NRO gives a brief history of the Social Security/Ponzi-scheme analogy and provides examples of "quite a few very respectable liberals" having made the same analogy in recent history that Liberals are prepared to blast Perry for making now.

Quick Reminder: On Monday, Sept. 12th, CNN will broadcast the "Tea Party Republican Debate," live from Tampa, Florida at 8 p.m. ET. Follow all the issues and campaign news leading up to the debate on CNNPolitics.com and @cnnpolitics on Twitter.

Full CNN Poll results (pdf)

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When Obama Goes Off Script, He Flubs American History

As I read along the prepared remarks sent out by the White House while listening to Barack Obama read them, I noticed that he stayed on script, word for word..... until close to the end when he went off script by adding one sentence about Lincoln.

Others noticed this as well and they are pointing out that not only did Obama go off script but he flubbed his history when he did.

The prepared remarks sent out by the White House says:

We all remember Abraham Lincoln as the leader who saved our Union. But in the middle of a Civil War, he was also a leader who looked to the future – a Republican president who mobilized government to build the transcohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifntinental railroad; launch the National Academy of Sciences; and set up the first land grant colleges. And leaders of both parties have followed the example he set.

NYT shows what Obama added in on his own:

We all remember Abraham Lincoln as the leader who saved our Union. Founder of the Republican Party. But in the middle of a civil war, he was also a leader who looked to the future -- a Republican President who mobilized government to build the Transcontinental Railroad -- (applause) -- launch the National Academy of Sciences, set up the first land grant colleges. (Applause.) And leaders of both parties have followed the example he set."

The American Thinker caught the slight change and points out two things.

One- Lincoln did not join the Republicans until 1856, over two years after the party was founded. The first Republican convention was held in Ripon, Wisconsin in 1854.

Two, and by far the most interesting, is that PBS, either edited out the gaffe or they used the prepared remarks sent out by the White House and mistakenly called it a transcript.

But how does it appear in the PBS transcript?

"We all remember Abraham Lincoln as the leader who saved our Union. But in the middle of a Civil War, he was also a leader who looked to the future - a Republican president who mobilized government to build the transcontinental railroad; launch the National Academy of Sciences; and set up the first land grant colleges. And leaders of both parties have followed the example he set."

Hot Air has a little fun with showing the differences in how the media reports when a Republican makes a gaffe or flubs a fact, the very same gaffe, they ignore from Obama yet previously criticized a Republican for.

Snark alert:

Don’t worry, though — the media is actually covering this gaffe. For instance, Tom Maguire finds Time Magazine having to correct the record on Lincoln:

He gives a good speech, but he’s loose with the facts. He called Abraham Lincoln the “founder” of the Republican Party. Nope. Lincoln was not the founder of the party; he wasn’t even the first Republican nominee (John Fremont was, in 1856). Lincoln was, of course, the first Republican to be elected president.

Great work by Time, huh? Only this piece wasn’t written this week. It was written in September 2008, and fact-checked Mike Huckabee, not Barack Obama. And guess who wrote this historical correction? Time Magazine’s Jay Carney … who now works at Barack Obama’s press secretary. They don’t talk to each other much in this White House, do they?

By the way, Time still hasn’t noted Obama’s error in the same way they did with non-candidate Huckabee in September 2008.

Legal Insurrection wonders if the media will show the same type of attention to Obama's gaffe as they did to Palins accurate statements on Revere.

So now the media will erupt for weeks on end about what an “idiot” and “fool” and “know-nothing” Obama is, just like it erupted over Sarah Palin’s (accurate) comments about Paul Revere?

It’s even worse, because Palin’s (accurate) comments were made in an on-the-fly interview whereas Obama’s were in a prepared speech.

And all the enlightened conservative pundits who bashed Palin endlessly over Revere now will denounce Obama’s historical ignorance, right?

Let me add my own reminder here about the media and liberal's inability to act consistently and objectively.

Remember when media personalities and the far left howled, insulted, criticized and claimed how dumb Sarah Palin was when she referenced the 1773 Tea Party?

Then people showed them how to use a search engine?

Story: Sarah Palin referenced the 1773 Tea Party and members of the far left liberal progressive portion of the Democratic party decided to deride her for her lack of knowledge, it was tweeted, retweeted, reported on and generally the left were having a field day stating that Palin didn't know the date of the Tea Party.

Welllllllllllllllllllllllll, once they actually looked up the Tea Party, you know, using the dandy little thing called a SEARCH ENGINE..... the backtracking began.

The lesson from all this is this: Palin does better with little notes on her hand than Obama does with a script and a teleprompter.

Quote of the day:

Other lawmakers had an altogether different review of the president's speech. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) told reporters he was mesmerized by Obama's skill with teleprompters.

"It is a head dance, just a beautiful thing," Gohmert said, moving his head from side to side. "Back and forth, three to five seconds between the teleprompters. ... He is so good. I mean I don't need sound, I can just sit there and admire how good he is at going back and forth between those two teleprompters."

Ummmmmm..... only when he sticks to the words on that little teleprompter dude.

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ATR Lists 21 Tax Increases Signed Into Law Under Barack Obama

Americans for Tax Reform provides a list and details to 21 tax increases that have been signed into law by Barack Obama since he took office.

Details at ATR, but the list itself is;

1. A 156 percent increase in the federal excise tax on tobacco

2. Obamacare Individual Mandate Excise Tax (takes effect in Jan 2014)

3. Obamacare Employer Mandate Tax (takes effect Jan. 2014)

4. Obamacare Surtax on Investment Income (Tax hike of $123 billion/takes effect Jan. 2013)

5. Obamacare Excise Tax on Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans (Tax hike of $32 bil/takes effect Jan. 2018)

6. Obamacare Hike in Medicare Payroll Tax (Tax hike of $86.8 bil/takes effect Jan. 2013)

7. Obamacare Medicine Cabinet Tax (Tax hike of $5 bil/took effect Jan. 2011)

8. Obamacare HSA Withdrawal Tax Hike (Tax hike of $1.4 bil/took effect Jan. 2011)

9. Obamacare Flexible Spending Account Cap – aka “Special Needs Kids Tax” (Tax hike of $13 bil/takes effect Jan. 2013)

10. Obamacare Tax on Medical Device Manufacturers (Tax hike of $20 bil/takes effect Jan. 2013)

11. Obamacare "Haircut" for Medical Itemized Deduction from 7.5% to 10% of AGI (Tax hike of $15.2 bil/takes effect Jan. 2013)

12. Obamacare Tax on Indoor Tanning Services (Tax hike of $2.7 billion/took effect July 2010)

13. Obamacare elimination of tax deduction for employer-provided retirement Rx drug coverage in coordination with Medicare Part D (Tax hike of $4.5 bil/takes effect Jan. 2013)

14. Obamacare Blue Cross/Blue Shield Tax Hike (Tax hike of $0.4 bil/took effect Jan. 1 2010)

15. Obamacare Excise Tax on Charitable Hospitals (Min$/took effect immediately)

16. Obamacare Tax on Innovator Drug Companies (Tax hike of $22.2 bil/took effect Jan. 2010)

17. Obamacare Tax on Health Insurers (Tax hike of $60.1 bil/takes effect Jan. 2014)

18. Obamacare $500,000 Annual Executive Compensation Limit for Health Insurance Executives (Tax hike of $0.6 bil/takes effect Jan 2013)

19. Obamacare Employer Reporting of Insurance on W-2 ($min/takes effect Jan. 2012)

20. Obamacare “Black liquor” tax hike (Tax hike of $23.6 billion/took effect immediately)

21. Obamacare Codification of the “economic substance doctrine” (Tax hike of $4.5 billion/took effect immediately)

ATR provides the bill name and page number as well as explanations and charts, so click on over.

Also notice how many of those tax increases are not set to go into effect until after the presidential election in 2012?

Hat Tip Drudge @Twitter.

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Hoffa Comments And Standards Going Forward: One for Obama and another for Republicans

Part of the headline lifted from something written by Ace of Spades in regards to a video where ABC's Jake Tapper tenaciously tries to pin down a "standard" of whether candidates/politicians are responsible to avow or disavow comments made by others at an event said candidate/politician attends if it is offensive.

Video below-



The rhetoric in question was said by Teamsters union President Jimmy Hoffa, Jr. at a Labor Day event in which President Obama later delivered a speech:

Hoffa Jr. said during his speech that unions need to fight a “war” against tea partiers and congressional Republicans.

“President Obama, this is your army,” he declared. “We are ready to march. Let’s take these sons of bitches out and take America back to where America we belong.”

Related:

Welcome, Union Brothers and Sisters- Sarah Palin, via Facebook.

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Polling News: Obama Sinks, Perry Rises And California Sides With Republicans On Economy

Quite a bit of polling news today starting with a NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, via MSNBC, which shows Barack Obama is at the lowest point of his presidency where he has dropped 3 points since July on his overall approval rating putting it at 44 percent, his handling of the economy earns him only a 37 percent approval and 19 percent believe the country is on the right track.

Perhaps most ominously for Obama, a majority of poll takers — 54 percent — think he's facing a longer-term setback from which he's unlikely to recover. Back in January, just 39 percent agreed with that assessment.

Full poll results found here.(PDF)

That poll is followed up with a a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, to which Wapo headlines their article about it with "Obama ratings sink to new lows as hope fades."

More than 60 percent of those surveyed say they disapprove of the way the president is handling the economy and, what has become issue No. 1, the stagnant jobs situation. Just 43 percent now approve of the job he is doing overall, a new career low; 53 percent disapprove, a new high.

Another poll shows that Obama's economic messaging is not resonating well in the very blue state of California which is suffering from 12 percent unemployment and while the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll which finds that "many would rather adhere to party orthodoxy than compromise to address the current economic problems," yet the plurality of respondents, 49 percent, agree with Republicans that slashing government spending to restrain the deficit will better lead to prosperity instead of Obama/Democrat's message for strategic government investments to stimulate the economy where only 37 percent side with them.

"The argument of 'We need to cut the size of government, we need to reduce the deficit' has won, even in California," said David Kanevsky, research director for American Viewpoint, a Republican firm that co-directed the bipartisan poll. "Stimulus is almost a four-letter word here."

With California unemployment mired at 12%, the electorate is clearly dissatisfied with the status quo. Nearly 3 in 4 voters say the country is on the wrong track, up sharply from the 55% who felt that way in November 2009.

Perhaps that is why Democrats have dropped the word "stimulus" almost entirely from their vocabulary as The Hill reports.

Democrats are now being careful to frame their job-creation agenda in language excluding references to any stimulus, even though their favored policies for ending the deepest recession since the Great Depression are largely the same.

Obama's much talked about upcoming jobs speech will undoubtedly also exclude the word "stimulus" and instead people will hear the word "investment" to mean more spending and stimulus.

Gallup finds that since Obama's signature legislation dubbed Obamacare was passed, the number of uninsured people has increased, not decreased.

CNN reports on a different set of polls showing that Rick Perry has widened his lead in the GOP field of candidates for the presidential election of 2012.

The Politico/George Washington University Battleground Poll has Perry atop the field with 36 percent, followed by former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney at 17 percent and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and Texas Rep. Ron Paul tied at 10 percent.

The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll delivered similar results. Perry is 38 percent of respondent's first choice for the nomination, followed by Romney at 23 percent, Paul at 9 percent and Bachmann at 8 percent.

Last but not least, Rasmussen just released their Generic Presidential Ballot which shows that a generic Republican candidate gets 49 percent support while Obama only receives 41 percent.

Attaching the name of the GOP front runner, Rick Perry, to that question, Perry leads Obama with 44 percent to Obama's 41 percent.

The polling news today is quite ominous for Obama's reelection chances in 2012 and while polls are a wonderful way to track patterns and trends, they are still just a snapshot into the minds of Americans at any given time.

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Polls: Majority Disapproves Of Obama's Handling Of Economy

CNN:

But only 34 percent approve of how the president is handling economic issues, with 65 percent saying they disapprove of how he’s handling the economy. Thirty-three percent give him a thumbs up on the budget deficit and 37 percent approving of how he's dealing with unemployment.



"Two-thirds of Democrats continue to approve of Obama's economic record, but seven out of ten independents disapprove. Not surprisingly, more than nine out of ten Republicans also disapprove of how Obama is handling the economy....

CNN isn't the only polling releasing all new lows for Obama, as Quinnipiac University headlines with "September 1, 2011 - Obama Approval Hits All-Time Low, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Economy Is Getting Worse, More Voters Say ."



In fact, looking at the national average, using a variety of polls by multiple organizations has disapproval of Obama's job performance as a whole at 53 percent with approval at 42 percent.



Is it any wonder that one GOP candidate, Rick Perry, has just gained a lead over Obama in the latest Rasmussen poll?



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Is The Mainstream Liberal Media Dumb?

The Politico has a very unimpressive five-page piece asking a question about Rick Perry "Is he dumb — or just “misunderestimated?”

Another Texas governor who drops his “g’s” and scorns elites is running for president and the whispers are the same: lightweight, incurious, instinctual.



Strip away the euphemisms and Rick Perry is confronting an unavoidable question: Is he dumb — or just “misunderestimated?”

Perry has an accent, went to a regular college versus an Ivy League college, he doesn't read "policy-heavy books late into the night," and OMG, he listens to advisers and colleagues before forming certain opinions.



That is just some of the blather from the first page of The Politico piece.



In the meantime, they causally mention Perry "ranks as the longest-serving governor in Texas history," without worthy mention that in that time the state has had the largest growth and has been responsible for over seven times the amount of private sector job growth than any other state in the country.



A must read reaction to this idiocy over at The Politico is from William Teach over at Pirate's Cove who is waiting (with much snark) for other profile pieces like:

We’re still waiting for his other pieces “Is Maxine Waters Insane?” and “Is Obama a complete failure?” Also “How do we know Obama’s brilliant when we’ve never seen any school transcripts or papers?” I hear he’s planning on releasing his article “Why does everything the Smartest Man In The World™ touches turn to poop?” very soon. Of course, those others are based on reality, rather than a liberal attack job on a guy who is leading the GOP primary field

Teach continues on about Perry:

....But, there’s no doubt that he Gets Things Done. And his state seems to be doing a whole hell of a lot better than Democrat run states like, say, California, which sees its businesses streaming into Texas. Perry is, in fact, a leader, someone who knows how to get things that work in the real word done around him. And, we don’t necessarily need “idea men”: we need leaders who solicit the ideas from the professionals, then makes it happen, and generally convinces people that this is the best thing to do.

In reading discussions regarding The Politico piece I saw that Hot Air provides the "dumb" memes the media has thrown at just about every Republican presidential candidate, yet they rarely if ever bother mentioning , especially not in a five-page piece, the "dumb" factor from Obama's own record.



Via Hot Air:

Notice that these memes never get applied on the other side of the aisle, either. Did any media question Obama’s intelligence when during the campaign when he made these whoppers?

• The Selma March in 1965 did not contribute to his birth in 1961.
• Kansas tornadoes in May 2007 killed 12 people, not “ten thousand”.
• Afghans do not speak Arabic.
• Within 24 hours, Obama reversed his assertion that Iran did not pose a “serious threat” to the US to an assertion that the threat is “grave”.
• “On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes — and I see many of them in the audience here today — our sense of patriotism is particularly strong.”
• 57 states

No, they didn’t. Why? Because the media only uses the weird, scary, and idiot memes for Republican candidates, that’s why.

Is it any wonder why the majority of Americans believe there is media bias and why 2 to 1 they believe the media favors liberals/Democrats and make no effort to hide their bias anymore?



While some wonder why the media isn't asking the "dumb" question about Barack Obama, I believe the more appropriate question is why they aren't looking into the mirror and tagging their own forehead with a "DUMB" sticker?



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Rick Perry Favored By Republicans And Tea Party Supporters

Gallup's new numbers are out and Rick Perry seems to at the front of the pack still, among Republicans who identify "government spending and power" as the set of issues most important to them as well as a smaller lead against Romney among Republicans who say "business and the economy" is their top issue.



Findings also show that Perry is more popular among Tea Party supporters than any other candidate as well.

Rick Perry's candidacy has attracted strong initial support from Republicans who identify themselves as supporters of the Tea Party movement. Perry leads by 21 percentage points over the closest contenders among this group, Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann. Among Republicans who say they do not support the Tea Party movement, Romney and Perry are essentially tied.



These results are based on an Aug. 17-21 Gallup poll, which showed Perry overtaking Romney as the front-runner for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination among all Republicans nationwide.



The poll finds that 58% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents identify themselves as supporters of the Tea Party movement, with 36% saying they do not consider themselves supporters. Included among the group of Tea Party supporters is a smaller group -- representing 12% of Republicans -- who say they are "strong" supporters of the movement. Among this smaller group, Perry's lead is even greater, 46% to 16%, over Bachmann, with all other candidates in single digits.



In Gallup's July measurement of Republicans' nomination preferences, before Perry officially entered the race, Romney held a slight edge over Bachmann among Tea Party supporters, 29% to 23%. Romney led Paul by 25% to 16% among nonsupporters.

The breakdown is explained over at Gallup on the lead Perry holds over Romney on the Government spending and business and economy issues, but there is no doubt that 3 weeks into his official campaign, Perry has slid into the candidate of choice for many.



NRO explains why Perry is popular with those that recognize his name already and why he will become more popular as more match him up against Romney and others.

• As “America’s jobs governor,” Perry is a one-man antidote to Obama’s venomous policies, which have held unemployment above 9 percent for 25 of the last 27 months. Across all 50 states, between June 2009 and June 2011, the Dallas Federal Reserve calculates that 49.9 percent of America’s net new jobs arose in Texas. July was its eleventh straight month of payroll expansion, with 29,300 Texans finding work. Nearly eleven years into Perry’s governorship, Texas inarguably is No. 1 in job growth.

During Romney’s single four-year term, however, the U.S. Labor Department ranked Massachusetts No. 47 in job growth. Employment increased just 0.9 percent between January 2003 and January 2007. At that time, U.S. job growth was roughly 5 percent, reports WSJ.com’s Brett Arends. Romney did keep Massachusetts ahead of Ohio and Michigan — two Rust Belt job sieves — and Louisiana, crushed by Katrina.

Read the whole thing.



Job growth and the economy are going to be two of the most important issues for the 2012 GOP nomination and for the 2012 presidential election and Perry stands far above all other GOP candidates as well as above Barack Obama on records alone.



Unless unemployment is drastically reduced and/or the economy grows at an impossible rate over the next year, Obama has nothing to campaign on except his speeches which are nothing like those he charmed voters with in 2008, because now there is a record behind him and it is ugly.



Obama's signature issue, Obamacare is still opposed by the majority of Americans and his unprecedented spending spending spree and deficit increases in the last two and half years have failed to stimulate the economy or produce the job growth promised with unemployment still over 9.0 percent.



No doubt as more Americans, especially Independents, learn more and are able to compare Perry's record with everyone else in the field of candidates and Obama, Perry's national lead will increase.



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Democrats And Obama' s Specific Spending Excesses

The first headline I saw this morning was from CBS News titled "National debt has increased $4 trillion under Obama."

The latest posting by the Treasury Department shows the national debt has now increased $4 trillion on President Obama's watch.



The debt was $10.626 trillion on the day Mr. Obama took office. The latest calculation from Treasury shows the debt has now hit $14.639 trillion.



It's the most rapid increase in the debt under any U.S. president.



The national debt increased $4.9 trillion during the eight-year presidency of George W. Bush. The debt now is rising at a pace to surpass that amount during Mr. Obama's four-year term.

The very next headline I saw was "Spending, not entitlements, created huge deficit" from Byron York at Campaign 2012 who breaks down the 2011 projected deficit, separating the expenses associated with the economic downturn from the specific spending excesses of Obama and the Democrats, showing that half the projected deficit is a "down payment on the Obama domestic agenda."



York starts by showing the stark contrast from 2007 to 2011:

There's no doubt federal spending has exploded in recent years. In fiscal 2007, the last year before things went haywire, the government took in $2.568 trillion in revenues and spent $2.728 trillion, for a deficit of $160 billion. In 2011, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates, the government will take in $2.230 trillion and spend $3.629 trillion, for a deficit of $1.399 trillion.

He goes on to explain how we went from a $160 billion deficit in 2007 to the nearly $1.4 trillion projected for 2011.

But how, precisely, did that happen? Was there a steep rise in entitlement spending? Did everyone suddenly turn 65 and begin collecting Social Security and using Medicare? No: The deficits are largely the result not of entitlements but of an explosion in spending related to the economic downturn and the rise of Democrats to power in Washington. While entitlements must be controlled in the long run, Washington's current spending problem lies elsewhere.

York fairly shows that half of those figures can be directly related to the economic downturn and posits that certain spending would have had to be done whether it was a Democrat or a Republicans in control of the White House.



Then he shows the other half of the problem, and that lies directly at Obama's feet.

That's a deficit increase that would have happened in an economic crisis whether Republicans or Democrats controlled Washington. But it was the specific spending excesses of President Obama and the Democrats that shot the deficit into the stratosphere.



There is no line in the federal budget that says "stimulus," but Obama's massive $814 billion stimulus increased spending in virtually every part of the federal government. "It's spread all through the budget," says former Congressional Budget Office chief Douglas Holtz-Eakin. "It was essentially a down payment on the Obama domestic agenda." Green jobs, infrastructure, health information technology, aid to states -- it's all in there, billions in increased spending.



As for the Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP -- it has no specific line in the budget, either, but that is because it was anticipated to pay nearly all of its own cost, which it has.



Spending for Social Security and Medicare did go up in this period -- $162 billion and $119 billion, respectively -- but by incremental and predictable amounts that weren't big problems in previous years. "We're getting older one year at a time, and health care costs grow at 7 or 8 percent a year," says Holtz-Eakin. If Social Security and Medicare were the sole source of the current deficit, it would be a lot smaller than it is.



The bottom line is that with baby boomers aging, entitlements will one day be a major budget problem. But today's deficit crisis is not one of entitlements. It was created by out-of-control spending on everything other than entitlements. The recent debt-ceiling agreement is supposed to put the brakes on that kind of spending, but leaders have so far been maddeningly vague on how they'll do it.

Read the entire piece for actual dollar amounts.



The issues above along with job creation and growth are going to be central to the 2012 elections, presidential and senatorial, and are issues that need to be hammered home, relentlessly.



Obama inherited a troublesome economy but under his hand, his guidance, and his first two years a House and Senate completely controlled by Democrats, that economy spiraled downward in a free fall and Obama would tell you it is simply "bad luck."



American voters should keep an old expression in their minds over the next 15 months:



"Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me."



Then in November 2012, they should vote accordingly.



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New Yorkers As Angry With Obama As The Rest Of Us Are

The New York Times piece explaining how even in New York, one of the most blue states around, people are as angry at Barack Obama as the rest of us are.

But it was there that Dale Weiss, a 64-year-old Democrat, approached the Republican running for Congress in a special election and, without provocation, blasted the president for failing to tame runaway federal spending. “We need to cut Medicaid,” she declared, “but he won’t do that.” She shook her head in disgust. “He is a moron.”

New York donors are also backing a different candidate than they did in 2008.... hint, it isn't Obama!!



New York isn't the only blue state that is becoming disillusioned with Obama, his Pennsylvania numbers have dropped to 35 percent approval as well.



This is a litany being heard around the country as Obama's disapproval ratings rise to new highs and his approval ratings sink lower and lower on most issues.



Some are suggesting Obama walk away, resign, and not to even bother to run for reelection in 2012.



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Perry Vs Obama: Putting America Back To Work

Back to work



Since Rick Perry's South Carolina speech declaring his intention to run for president in 2012, his main focal point has been getting Americans back to work. In every speech he has mentioned it. He has put his plan out there.



It has been one of his most used expressions at every stop, in every conversation.



Today I see Barack Obama thinks it is a good expression, one that resonates with the public, so his weekly address is even titled "Getting America Back to Work."



Nice thought, but who is the public going to give more credence to when it comes to jobs and job growth?



The Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, who has presided over a state that is responsible for approximately 37 percent of all the nations jobs created or the man, Barack Obama, that has presided over a country that hasn't seen unemployment under 9 percent since his first year in office?



No-brainer!



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Confidence In Obama Declines And He May Lose Pennsylvania

Yesterday, Friday August 19, 2011, was a very bad news day for Barack Obama as headline after headline screamed out failure, Democrats losing confidence in his job performance and future, unemployment rising in 28 states for July, he lost 36 percentage points in the Hispanic demographic since he took office, mortgage rates hit a 50 year low, stocks plunged, etc..... all headlines for one day.



Today is not much better as we see that polling in the very blue state of Pennsylvania, a state almost everyone agrees Obama will need badly to win reelection in 2012, is being called "dismal" for Obama.

President Barack Obama, who political experts say will need a win in Pennsylvania to retain the White House, dipped to 35 percent approval among the state's registered voters, according to a Muhlenberg College poll released Friday.



The results come on the heels of a bad week in polls for Obama that showed him first dropping to 39 percent nationwide in Gallup's daily tracking poll. Then another set of Gallup results Thursday showed only 26 percent of Americans approve of how Obama is handling the economy.



These numbers are a huge blow to Obama who won the state handily in 2008, and a significant drop in just a few weeks from when Quinnipiac University polled Pennsylvania voters and found the president with 43 percent job approval.

It isn't just PA where Obama is seeing news like this, it is across the country and across the demographic board where he is suffering a horrendous steady decline in support.

The trend for all 27 groups has been negative. And although the margins of error on this calculation (represented by the red bars in the chart) are fairly high, the decline has been statistically significant in 24 of 27 cases.



Three groups in particular stand out for having especially large declines. First is what Gallup terms “pure independent” voters, among whom Mr. Obama’s approval rating has dropped by 10 points since the start of the year. These pure independents are true swing voters; Gallup defines the category to exclude the many voters who call themselves independent but in fact lean toward one or another party and behave like partisans.

Is Obama "doomed" yet?



I do not think anyone can be 100% sure, but what is sure is that if something doesn't happen to change the pattern being seen of an Obama free fall in polls, steadily heading downward, if the economy doesn't completely turn around in the next six months, if unemployment continues to rise, then any slightly right of the middle GOP candidate can wipe him out in the 2012 election.



(Cartoon above by Nate Beeler, via Townhall)

Bad News Friday For Barack Obama: Linkfest

Headlines today are enough to make any sitting president want to go hide on an Island somewhere and pray it all just goes away.



The Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Summary from the Depart of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics issued it's press release showing that 28 states and the District of Columbia logged increases in their unemployment rates in July, nine decreased and 13 stayed the same.



Democrats, even Democratic Congressmen and women are speaking out against their party leader and president and predicting Obama's road to reelection will be tough. They are losing faith in his abilities, which they seemed surprised about but shouldn't be since they nominated a man with no experience to begin with.



Since Obama took office in 2009 he lost 36 percent in approval points from Hispanics, bringing his number from a high of 85 percent to 49 percent now.



Mortgage rates have hit a 50 year low.



Stock prices plunged in a broad sell-off Thursday.

All three major stock indexes more than wiped out their gains from earlier this week. For the year, the Dow Jones industrial average is down 5 percent, the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index is down 9 percent and the Nasdaq composite index is down 10 percent.



The sell-off continued in Asian markets Friday. Japan’s blue-chip Nikkei 225 index ended its morning session down 2.15 percent, and stocks dropped sharply in Seoul, Sydney and Hong Kong.



“I think the risk now is that we fall into another recession,” said Patrick Newport, an economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Mass. “I think the risks have just changed very dramatically in the last couple of months. People are spooked.”

Headlines such as "The Obama Collapse Accelerates" from Business Insider explains that the political collapse has reached the Jimmy Carter zone, never something a president wants to see, hear or acknowledge.



All the links above are just one days worth of nightmare news for Barack Obama.



Is it any wonder Obama and family are hightailing it to Martha's Vinyard (the Island he is hiding on this weekend), probably hoping that something extraordinarily big will happen to make all those headlines just go away?



Talk about a bad news day for Obama.



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Video- Democratic Congressman Peter Defazio On Obama's Job Peformance 'Not So Good'

Video below is Democratic Congressman Peter Defazio discussing obama's reelection chances, his job performance, his lack of leadership ability and his broken promises to his party.







Via Portland News Channel 8, KGW.com:

Asked whether he thought the President had a shot at re-election, Defazio was skeptical.



"At this point it pretty much depends on how far out there the Republican nominee is. You know with a respectable--someone who is a little bit toward the middle of the road--Republican nominee, he’s going to have a very tough time getting re-elected," said DeFazio.



He’s also not convinced the President will do well in Oregon.



"I believe Oregon is very much in play. I mean we are one of the harder hit states in the union, particularly my part of the state. I've just done six town hall meetings, have seven to go but people are shaking their heads and saying 'I don't know if I’d vote for him again.'" Defazio said.



Asked if he was surprised, the congressman shrugged.



"Not at all," DeFazio said. "One guy asked me, 'Give me 25 words what he's about and what he’s done for me.' I’m like, 'It could have been worse."

Obama's reelection campaign platform just went from "Hope and Change" to "It could be worse".



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Vulnerable Senate Democrats Complain, Obama Is Sucking Up All The Cash

33 Senator seats are up in the 2012 election cycle, 10 Republican seats and 23 Democratic seats and Republicans need a net gain of 3 Senate seats (if a Republican wins the presidential campaign) or 4 Senate seats if Obama is reelected, to take control of the Senate and boot harry Reid out of the Senate majority leader spot.



2012 is crucial for Senate Democrats and they are asking the Obama machine to not lock up and max out their richest Democratic donors, via The Politico.

“We have a huge number of incumbents who are up this cycle and a lot of them have taken tough votes to enact significant portions of this president’s agenda and I think that there is a sense that there should be an all-hands-on-deck approach to keep the Senate in Democratic hands,” said one Democratic official familiar with the meeting.

If Obama's policies were more popular, if his disapproval numbers on specific areas weren't so high (71 disapproval on the economy was reported yesterday), then those Senate Democrats that took those "tough votes to enact significant portions of this president’s agenda" could always ride his coattails but those coattails are not there anymore, so they need money.



Money the Obama team is sucking up in his attempt to save his own job for four more years.

Majority Leader Harry Reid and other top Senate Democrats have also asked for at least $10 million in aid from the Democratic National Committee as well as the president’s re-election campaign to help underwrite expensive TV ad campaigns and on-the-ground efforts for crucial Senate races in 2012, according to Democratic sources.



In a recent meeting in Washington, Reid, along with Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the third-highest ranking Democrat, and Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), who chairs of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, made their pitch to Messina, according to Democratic sources.



Messina would not agree to the request not to max out big donors, and no decision was made on the amount of financial backing that Senate Democrats will get from the DNC and the Obama-Biden campaign.

Without control of the Senate or the House, Barack Obama, if reelected, would spend fours years as a lame duck president but he doesn't really care if anything gets done, all he cares about is not being a one term president.



Gallup chart 8/17/11



With disapproval numbers like the ones above, it is very likely that Obama will be one term prez and he may just take Senate Democrats down with him.



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Video- RNC Ad 'Obama's Debt-End Bus Tour '

One minute video below, the ad speaks for itself.







H/T The Note.

Obama's lows, worse ever

LA Times Gallup report shows that Obama has sunk below the 40% approval mark.

New data posted Sunday shows that 39% of Americans approve of Obama's job performance, while 54% disapprove. Both are the worst numbers of his presidency.

Politically this could be his doomsday report as the GOP just rounded out with the official entry of Rick Perry and the official exit of Tim Pawlenty from the GOP field of candidates to run for president in 2012.



Obama is to the desperate point where his public relations efforts are down to throwing hail Mary's in their attempt to win over Independents.



This is not going over well with any of Obama's liberal base, evidenced by Obama's 11 point drop in support for Obama's re-nomination since June, via CNN.



The start of the 2012 campaign season for the presidential race is becoming extremely popcorn worthy!!



.

Maureen Dowd Taps Into Buyer's Remorse Of The Obama Purchase

Maureen Dowd captures the buyer's remorse being felt by Democrats and many Independents that bought into Barack Obama's hope and change mantra from 2008.



She explains how Obama supporters have become disillusioned with the man who had no resume nor executive experience before becoming elected as President of the United States of America and now has a record of an ineffectual failed leader.

Faced with a country keening for reassurance and reinvention, Obama seems at a loss. Regarding his political skills, he turns out to be the odd case of a pragmatist who can’t learn from his mistakes and adapt.

Many of his Democratic supporters here, who once waited hours in line just to catch a glimpse of The One, are disillusioned.

Dowd says Obama has been "spectacularly unable to fill the leadership void in Washington."



She then provides a list of examples:

Obama’s response on Monday to Friday’s Standard & Poor’s downgrade and to the 22 Navy Seal commandos and 8 other soldiers killed by a Taliban rocket-propelled grenade in Afghanistan was once more too little, too late. It was just like his belated, ineffectual response on the BP oil spill and his reaction to the would-be Christmas Day bomber; it took him three days on vacation in Hawaii to speak about the terrorist incident when the country was scared about national security, and then he spent the next week callously shuttling from the podium to the golf course.

More:

His inability to grab a microphone and spontaneously assuage Americans’ fears is strange. If the American servicemen had died on a Monday, he wouldn’t have waited until Wednesday to talk about it. He doesn’t like the bully pulpit, just the professor’s lectern.



After failing to interrupt his Camp David weekend to buck up the country on one of its worst days in history, he tacked on his condolences for the soldiers’ families to his economic pep talk, in what had to be the most inept oratorical segue of his presidency.



He long ago should have gone out into the country to talk to Americans in person and come up with a concrete plan that people could print out from the White House Web site and study. Hasn’t he learned how dangerous it is to delegate to Congress? His withholding and reactive nature has made him seem strangely irrelevant in Washington, trapped by his own temperament. He doesn’t lead, and he doesn’t understand why we don’t feel led.



Speaking from the State Dining Room of the White House, he advised America it was still “a triple-A country” like some cerebral soccer coach urging the kids to win one for the London Interbank Offered Rate.



With traders hearing nothing new, just boilerplate about “common sense and compromise” on deficit reduction, the Dow Jones industrial average, which had already fallen 410 points, fell 20 more points while the president was talking around 2 o’clock. By the 4 p.m. close, the Dow was 634 points lower.

Buyer's remorse in it's full glory.



[Update] Dowd is not the only one feeling it.





(Correction made- headline fixed)