President Obama’s perilous pragmatism

Here’s a snippet from a blog entry that’s well worth a read…

Liberals are weary of defending the President against charges he’s a socialist by pointing out he’s more conservative than Bush ever was. We voted for a Democrat. Is it too much to expect that he act like one? Are we wrong to wonder whether he is compromising our principles or his own? Are we wrong to demand he stop barking and start biting—start fighting, like our future depends upon it?

Obama has requested that we Americans call our Representatives and Senators and tell them we’re tired of gridlock. While you’re at it, I suggest you call the White House and tell them the solution to gridlock is not consensus—or triangulation, for that matter.

In related news, recent polling by Public Policy Polling (PPP) shows that Democratic enthusiasm about voting in next year’s election has hit a record low this month. According to the polling, only 48% of Democrats on PPP’s most recent national survey said they were ‘very excited’ about voting in 2012, while that figure was 49% on the survey before that. Of note is the fact that the two most recent polls are the only times all year the ‘very excited’ number for Democrats has dipped below 50%.

According to Tom Jensen of PPP, the recently enacted debt ceiling “compromise” (capitulation) may have a lot to do with a lack of enthusiasm for Democrats looking ahead to the 2012 election.

The debt deal really does appear to have demoralized the base, and the weird thing about it is that this is one issue where if Obama had done what folks on the left wanted him to do, he also would have had the support of independents. The deal has proven to be a complete flop in swing states where we’ve polled it like Colorado, North Carolina, and Ohio. And in every single one of those states a majority of voters overall, as well as a majority of independents, think new taxes are going to be needed to solve the deficit problem.

Count me among those Democrats who aren’t “very excited” about voting in 2012.

Share:

Related Articles

1 thought on “President Obama’s perilous pragmatism

  1. This President is the perfect symbol for why I scoff at those in the Serious Center who advocate pragmatism and compromise.

    With that, you get horrible, half-assed policies that piss everybody off.

    And this wasn’t/isn’t the time for it. I’ll admit to being naively duped by this guy.

    But what’s the end game? The only solution I foresee is a draft Hillary movement, because no other primary challenge could come close to success, but even that ain’t gonna happen.

    TL;DR: We’re all screwed.

Comments are closed.