Mar 16 2009
Democrats & Obama Worried About Voter Backlash
The New York Times is reporting the Democrats in DC are all of a sudden worried that the voters are rising up against their reckless and unfocused policies. Before I get to the NYT piece I have to wonder what in the world brought this crystalizing moment of sanity to the DC liberals who have been on a “screw you all, we won” binge of socialist policies surrounded by endless pork projects.
I mean, what was going in Congress and the White House when I and others were screaming that the Spendulus bill was a bunch of liberal pet projects with no stimulus, and that no jobs for Americans would be coming from that pork-a-thon for at least another year? These people when ape sending ridiculous sums of money for doggy parks, bike runs and frisbee parks while closing down promising nuclear fusion projects that have been running SUCCESSFULLY for years. It was the largest waste of money ever passed, and it bankrupt the next two generations of Americans in 2 short years.
Now remember this unrestrained pet project spending when you read the NYT piece:
The Obama administration is increasingly concerned about a populist backlash against banks and Wall Street, worried that anger at financial institutions could also end up being directed at Congress and the White House and could complicate President Obama’s agenda.
The administration’s sharp rebuke of theAmerican International Group on Sunday for handing out $165 million in executive bonuses — Lawrence H. Summers, director of the president’s National Economic Council, described it as “outrageous†on “This Week†on ABC — marks the latest effort by the White House to distance itself from abuses that could feed potentially disruptive public anger.
“We’ve got enormous problems that need to be addressed,â€Â David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, said in an interview. “And it’s hard to address because there’s a lot of anger about the irresponsibility that led us to this point.â€
“This has been welling up for a long time,†he said.
Oh this is just to rich! This is another sign of how inexperienced Team Obama is. What they are lamely attempting is a bit of misdirection, trying to spin the voter anger towards the banks and business. They are trying to say “look at all this wasted spending” when they are guilty of 1,000 times this amount of wasted spending on such critical issues as pooping puppies in Pasadena!Â
What is the backlash – ever growing Tea Parties, like this one in Cincinnati this weekend:
That is what has the democrats scared. But this can only be scary if something else is showing up – and that is bad poll numbers. DC politicians never get worried until poll numbers start moving. DC pols are immune to other signals like logic, common sense, decency, sacrifice (unless it is others who do the sacrificing). But polls – I wonder if that is what is really behind this sudden panic. Rassmussen has the President’s support index down to +6, from a one time high if +30. Is the source of their new focus?
What bothers me is that, instead of focusing on the root economic problems and instead drifting around enacting a plethora of disjoint liberal policies and pork projects, the DC libs are more interested in placing blame than fixing anything. And they wonder why a backlash is brewing?
Addendum: My suspicions confirmed later in the article:
“There’s unquestionably a strong populist surge out there,†said Joel Benenson, Mr. Obama’s pollster, citing his own polls and focus groups. “It’s been brewing for close to four years. For the last two years, Americans were clearly indicating that they believe that one of the biggest obstacles to progress on America’s toughest challenges — notably health care and energy independence — was the influence of special interests and corporate interests on the agenda in Washington.â€
Yep, they are about to become the biggest lightening rod in history – and they deserve it.
What we see in the tea parties (and thanks AJ, for posting the pic from Cincinnati) is the PRIVATE SECTOR realization that they are the DECLARED ENEMY of the state. The battle lines are now drawn
— it’s the public sector versus the private sector.
Numerically, we’re in the minority, because of the huge numbers of retirees, public sector employees, and those who believed Obama to be the “answer”, but all the wealth is created by our side.
They are saying that this is ALL the fault of Bush. If he hadn’t given the “rich” such a big tax break, we would have not had the banking crisis, and we would have had the money for nationalized health care. If Bush hadn’t been the pocket of special interests, we would have had “cap and trade” just like Europe. See, because the MSM has so demonized Bush, and Obama won because EVERYBODY hates Bush, they can continue to blame Bush for everything. Remember he is a FAILURE. Obama is the great one.
I think it is a very iffy game that the dems are playing. Dreamers tend to lose focus when it hits their pocket book.
AJ:
First off: no, they aren’t.
Second off: the thought that anyone is worried about “rallies” that pull in literally dozens and dozens of people is, frankly, kinda pathetic.
Third: “What bothers me is that, instead of focusing on the root economic problems [….]”
Tell me what the GOP has done so far to focus on the economy, other than petulantly stamping their feet and screaming “No” at every possible chance (including the earmarks in the omnibus bill, of which they were responsible for almost 50%).
And, on a more sincere note: finally, thank you for ignoring the utterly ridiculous “Going Galt” meme.
AJ – My husband and I attended a local meeting on how the Stimulus money will be spent in my state(TX). There were so many people who attended that the fire marshall had to start turning away people. They had to open room dividers and put out chairs for all the extra people. They still had to turn people away. The meeting was well run and relatively civil. However, it was well noted that the most uncivil people there were the ones wearing Obama shirts, hats & pins. The rest of the attendees were polite and interested in what others had to say.
One thing that I came away with was that there were a LOT of people there who all agreed that we will no longer be silent about how our govt. is performing. That came from people from both sides of the aisle. The regular man is simply tired of our govt. taking advantage of us in every conceivable way. I think Obama and most politicians in general should be very worried. The silent majority is waking us and will be heard. They might not like what we have to say. There will be a backlash like they have never seen before.
It’s now a +4 Approval index.
The biggest problem that I see coming………the banking system still needs to be shored up. If more is not done, as much as we may not like to give to Wall Street, the banks can’t survive and there will be a run on the banks as they begin to collapse, Britain’s banks will be the first to go. Then we will really be in a 1930’s style depression as the run comes to the US.
Obama has so demonized Wall Street in an attempt to pass the big spending bills, first the $867 billion, then $410 billion saying the the people need help too, that the people will not tolerate any more shoring up of Wall Street. The banking problem has not been solved and many more trillions will have to be given to advert a 1930 crisis. I think that is what Bernanke (sp) was alluding to during his “60 minute” interview. Will we have the WILL to do what needs to be done, I’m worried that we may not because of all the spending already.
Obama could have told the people the truth from the beginning…..saying nobody likes what we have to do, but a total banking collapse is not an option. He could have held our domestic spending to last years levels, passed a stimulus that extended unemployment insurance, and medical benefits, lowered middle class taxes, rather then going on a spending spree. Obama may have set up such a big revolt that a collapse is inevitable.
It is strange to see the stock market rallying in the last six days. The investors must have some inside information…????
Now Obama’s demanding the money back from AIG. Surely that will make Wall Street very upset and that there will be backlash coming from the Wall Street.
Obama said of his first stimulus plan that it is the right scope, right priorities, and right size; yet, they’re asking for another stimulus plan.
BTW, I am loving the “Going Galt” mantra. It is perfect for this time!
The Republicans have come up with lots of amendments and proposals that will produce real jobs at half the costs and reviving the economy.
The Democrats shot down every one of these amendments, amendments that are needed to revive the economy.
Oh my god – if the NY Times said it then it must be true!
I wonder how many of the folks in the tea party photo are included in the “polls”. Methinks the tyrants in the government are starting to worry that they may get a literal lumping (and well deserved I might add). Unfortunately that’s all this bunch of larcenous bastards will understand but that is fine with me, I have a lot of angry white male in me and know a lot of angry white females who would like to get there hands on Pelosi, Shumer, Durbin, Obama, Reid, Clinton, Conyers, Frank etc; strip them naked and tar and feather them in the public square and then deport them to Venezuela.
Think the Chinese figured out that they ain’t gonna see a dime on their attempted purchase of the US?
lurker:
“Now Obama’s demanding the money back from AIG. Surely that will make Wall Street very upset and that there will be backlash coming from the Wall Street.”
AIG’s stock is up 64% today.
Congratulations – in two short sentences, you managed to prove that you know nothing about politics *OR* finance.
KauaiBoy,
“I wonder how many of the folks in the tea party photo are included in the “pollsâ€. ”
Well, let’s do the math. There were approximately 4,000 at this event. “Cincinnati police said unofficially that about 4,000 protesters showed up Sunday, less than the 6,000-plus people lead organizer Mike Wilson had projected.” http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090316/NEWS0108/903160337. Let’s keep in mind that some of the 4,000 include the young children holding signs in the event photos who are really there because their parents carted them along, but let’s go ahead and include them in the total numbers just for simplicity.
The current U.S. population is estimated at approximately 306 million people by the U.S. Census Bureau. Of that number, approximately 169 million are registered voters. Ohio has an estimated population of approximately 11.5 million. Cincinnati has an estimated population of approximately 2.1 million.
So, the people at this rally represent approximately: (1) .000013% of the U.S. population, (2) .000023% of the total U.S. registered voters, (3) .00035% of the total Ohio population, and (4) .0019% of the Cincinnati population.
Given the insignificance of the number of people at this event in comparison to the overall numbers, I think it is highly doubtful that any of them would be included in a random poll sample. But yeah, it is mathmatically possible.
Nonetheless, I’m sure Obama is really concerned – I mean who would have thought that there would be 4,000 people in a large City like Cincinnati that don’t support his policies? I mean, only approximately 2.67 million people in Ohio voted for McCain over Obama. Who would have thought that there would still be 4,000 people who haven’t converted to Obama by now? Can you sat REVOLUTION!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks AJ for posting a picture of the Tea Party here in Cincy! As a Cincinnatian, I’m surprised at the turnout the Tea Party attracted. But I hope no one takes this as a sample of the population of the city itself. Cincinnati itself is strongly Democrat, but the suburbs (where most of the population reside) are overwhelmingly GOP.
Guy, you are right in questioning what the GOP has done for the economy other than say “no.” But, can you tell me please what hunting after Rush Limbaugh is going to accomplish to help the economy? Or how the first thing Obama did in office (closing Gitmo) did to stimulate the economy? The only jobs his first presidential action created is giving ACLU lawyers more cases.
mark:
I realize that this may be difficult to understand after the example of the last 8 years, but it IS possible for a President to walk and chew gum at the same time.
So, yes – Obama can mention Rush once in a meeting with GOP congressional leaders, and he can sign an order closing Gitmo — AND he can push through an $875B stimulus bill (you might have heard of that one – it was in the news for a bit), and an omnibus bill, and work on the budget too.
Haven’t you seen all of those cute little graphs that AJ likes to post, about how the actions that Obama has taken are going to plunge us into the Apocalypse, and saddle our great-great-grandchildren with a bazillion-kajillion dollars of debt (the kids that we aren’t harvesting for spare parts, that is)? How could Obama have done all that if he was only “giving ACLU lawyers more cases”?
I think the Democrats took advantage of a difficult situation and used it to advance their own agenda.
And Kathie is right. There might actually be a need for some of support for banks in the future and the public will not be interested, largely because the Democrats have totally turned them off to the idea of government intervention of any kind.
As for what Republicans have done, for one thing they actually had a stimulus plan of their own that did not call for enslaving the next two generations of Americans. They also believe in letting business make money and make jobs. For the first 7 years of Bush’s tenure in office the economy did pretty well. I would say they have a good a track record as the likes of Pelosi and Reid and Obama.
kathie:
The Democrats will try to make it all about Bush. They like to say that everyone hates Bush..which is not true. And everyone loves Obama…which is not true. The problem they are facing now is that their propaganda is coming up against reality.
For instance the new demon to the lefties if cnbc. They want to know where all the traders were and why they did not know and let’s blame Wall Street. blah blah blah.
The problem with that is that firms like AIG gave a lot more money to Democrats than they did to Republicans. 68% of their contributions went to Democrats in 2008. And the Democrats, like Pelosi and Reid and Dodd and Frank for all their outrage were not even remotely prepared for the meltdown.
So blaming everyone else for not doing more when they themselves did nothing will only get the Democrats so far.
Things are shaping up for the Democrats to take a decent walloping in the mid-term elections. Dems still lead by about 4% in the generic ballot, but that isn’t much of an advantage and there is a long way to go until November 2010.
The government is going to need a trillion dollars more to buy the bad assets along with the private sector, from the banks to get them off the books. Congress is going to have to approve the trillion. If it doesn’t happen, we can’t set the banking system right. It is a shame that Obama didn’t start with the fix and fix it. Now it will be much harder as he has demonized Wall Street and spent trillions that we the tax payers are going to have to pay for. Not only that but Americans realize that a few have been selected for special treatment and we don’t like that.
Obama still has his budget to get approved, the one with the cap and trade, universal medical care and money for education. The budget is hugh. He decided to cram through the $867 trillion and the $410 trillion, which are doubtful to create many jobs, he is now trying to help small businesses………I guess better late then never. Now he recognizes that they really are the job creators. However with tax hikes at the end of 2010, he will take back what he gave. Just like he will do with the cap and trade, what he gave to the middle class he will take back with cap and trade.
It would be so much easier to know what he was doing if he thought in a straight line. His thinking is all over the place which says to me he has no PLAN where A is followed by B then by C. There are always consequences for every decision, he seems not to have a very good grasp of financial facts to know that if he does X, Y will happen. So he does a little bit of this and then a little bit of that. In the end he scores political points with one hand and hopes no one will notice what he takes away with the other.
Community organizing is not a good resume for his particular job.
Terrye,
“As for what Republicans have done, for one thing they actually had a stimulus plan of their own that did not call for enslaving the next two generations of Americans. They also believe in letting business make money and make jobs. For the first 7 years of Bush’s tenure in office the economy did pretty well.”
Okay, so you appear to concede that Bush’s last year in office wasn’t very good. I guess that’s progress. So let’s take a look at this Washington Post article examining the economic data for Bush’s first 7 years. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/11/AR2009011102301.html?hpid=topnews
Jobs – “The number of jobs in the nation increased by about 2 percent during Bush’s tenure, the most tepid growth over any eight-year span since data collection began seven decades ago. ” “From 2002 to 2006, the housing boom generated about 600,000 to 800,000 jobs that otherwise would not have been created — about 10 percent of total job growth in that span”
GDP – “Gross domestic product, a broad measure of economic output, grew at the slowest pace for a period of that length since the Truman administration.” “For the first seven years of the Bush administration, gross domestic product grew at a paltry 2.1 percent annual rate. ”
American income – “Americans’ incomes grew more slowly than in any presidency since the 1960s, other than that of Bush’s father. ”
Federal Deficiet – “The federal government had a modest budget surplus when Bush took office in 2001, but ran a deficit — funding itself to a significant degree with borrowed money — of 4.9 percent of gross domestic product in 2004 and 4 percent in 2005, even as the economy was growing at a healthy pace. ” Bush ran a federal deficiet every year he was in office.
National Debt – Bush doubled the national debt while in office to over $10 trillion. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-bittle-and-jean-johnson/national-debt-passes-10-t_b_132732.html
And what did Bush reform/accomplish with respect to the most significant threats to our long-term financial security (medicare, social security, health care costs) – ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
What are conservative economist saying about Bush’s economic achievements – “It’s sad to say, but we really went nowhere for almost ten years, after you extract the boost provided by the housing and mortgage boom,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Economy.com, and an informal adviser to McCain’s campaign. “It’s almost a lost economic decade.”