Obama’s Popularity Circling The Drain

Has America awakened? If the polls are any indication, she’s starting to. And when this sleeping giant is fully awake, Barack Obama may become the lamest of ducks. All polls (except the obviously skewed ones) have shown the same thing: Barack Obama’s popularity is declining. Looking at one of the most consistent, Rasmussen, the trend should be heartening to America, and at the least, distressing for Obama.

For the first time since Barack Obama was elected, the polls show that voters who at least somewhat approve of Obama’s job performance has fallen below 50%. Those that strongly disapprove have outnumbered those that strongly approve for weeks now. Sure, a snapshot in time can be disputed as some kind of an anomaly, but this is a trend over the span of Obama’s time in the White House.

Now, even the seeming carte blanche that the Democrats provided for Obama’s agenda is shaky. Some Dems are now regretting cap and trade and the disastrous stimulus bill. The health care debacle is mired in a plethora of contentious issues, and passage has been delayed. It could fail.

Back during the campaign, many fell for the change we can believe in rhetoric. That’s because they wanted to believe it, even though maybe in their hearts they knew that a man with no experience and too many radical ideas couldn’t possibly deliver. Positive reinforcement is a powerful tool though, and for Obama, it worked long enough to get him elected. This wouldn’t be the first time that people made irrational decisions based on what they wanted to be true, as opposed to the reality. Remember the Duke lacrosse “rape” case? It turns out that the D.A. set those kids up and concocted a phony investigation, trying to increase his popularity with black voters. Even as the guy sat before the board that would subsequently disbar him, there were protesters outside demanding that the innocent lacrosse players be jailed. They wanted to believe that an actual rape occurred. It did not, but their behavior was based on what they wanted to be true, not reality.

Same thing down in New Orleans. The debates during the last mayoral campaign featured current mayor Ray Nagin, a few politicians, and a few businessmen. One of the businessmen running had it right. He said that New Orleans may never be the same. The 9th Ward may never be rebuilt. They didn’t have the funds, and the area was still in a dangerous flood area. He then talked about what could be done. Like a rational realist. Ray Nagin on the other hand, gave the people what they wanted to hear. He told people to come on back, it’ll be like old times, we’ll have this place rebuilt in no time. Of course it wasn’t true, as subsequent history has shown, but that’s what the people wanted to hear. He was reelected.

But the BS only works for so long. If you can’t deliver, eventually people will start to question the rhetoric. You would have thought that the wave of popularity Barack Obama was riding would have lasted a little longer. Whoever is behind him may have forseen this though. Maybe that’s why he’s trying to implement his radical agenda at such breakneck speed. The devil is sending the beast with rath, because he knows the time is short…