Wednesday, November 11, 2009

The people continue to awaken

More bad news for the little tin messiah, from Rasmussen:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that 30% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty percent (40%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -10 (see trends). Republicans have opened a six-point lead on the Generic Congressional Ballot.

Sixty percent (60%) say that the Fort Hood shootings should be investigated by the military as a terrorist act. Just 27% prefer a criminal investigation by civilian authorities.

This Veterans Day, 81% of Americans have a favorable opinion of the U.S. military. Thirty-six percent (36%) had a close friend or relative who gave their life for our country. A Rasmussen video report notes that 69% say that military service is good for young people.

The Presidential Approval Index is calculated by subtracting the number who Strongly Disapprove from the number who Strongly Approve. It is updated daily at 9:30 a.m. Eastern (sign up for free daily e-mail update). Updates are also available on Twitter and Facebook.

Overall, 46% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. Fifty-three percent (53%) disapprove.

[. . .]

Most Americans continue to oppose the health care plan working its way through Congress.

[. . .]

It is important to remember that the Rasmussen Reports job approval ratings are based upon a sample of likely voters. Some other firms base their approval ratings on samples of all adults. President Obama's numbers are always several points higher in a poll of adults rather than likely voters. That's because some of the President's most enthusiastic supporters, such as young adults, are less likely to turn out to vote.

I am greatly cheered by this. My greatest fear was that too many of the American people would have such an emotional investment is Obama and his "historic" nature that they would be unable to come to grips emotionally with what a failure he was bound to be.

I beleived that there was a strong possibility that they would simply ignore bad news or continue to blame Bush. However it seems that high unemployment numbers have a way of bringing people out of denial and making them face cold hard reality.

And the reality is very cold and very hard. When you add the official unemployment numbers to the "discouraged workers", that is people who are out of work and have given up trying to find a job, you see real unemployment at over 15%. Then add the numbers of "underemployed", those workers who want and need full time employment but are only able to find part time work that does not pay enough for them to make ends meet, and you have an unemployment rate of around 21%.

These are Great Depression numbers.

Then consider the fact that severe inflation is just around the corner as the effect of all the money Obama and congressional Democrats are printing to underwrite their profligate spending begins to hit home.

How will people react when the spending power of their savings and pay checks decreases dramatically?

Do you know what the only part of the economy (other than government) that is growing and adding jobs at a brisk rate is?

It is the health care industry.

What will happen if Obama gets his way and congress actually hands him a socialized medicine bill to sign. What will happen if one seventh of the economy suddenly stops growing and is thrown into reverse as the government starts cutting costs and rationing services?

I fear our worst times as a nation are ahead of us.