Obama, I suspect, is at his lowest popularity rating now, but if you check out the Washington Post/ABC polls below, you will find that he is still ahead of the Republicans.
American suffering is going to be great this next two years. The 13 month extension of assistance to those out of work does not include the 99ers who have already reached the maximum beyond which the benefit does not apply. Our job competition is with nations willing to trash their own workers with low wages and lack of benefits to produce goods at a rate which we cannot match with our current labor standards.
In contrast the Republicans seem bent on increasing the income of our richest Americans with lowered tax rates and no 'death' penalty estate taxes.
Perhaps the Republican House will do something to keep supporters on board, but I think such foolish greed will not sell again. The numbers simply are there now on record. Even some of our billionaires are not buying this gross manifestation of greed. Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and others have spoken out and will presumably continue to do so. What more could the Republicans promise the ultras -- a House of Lords in place of the Senate?
Obama may not have gotten all the pieces in place, but it looks as though he has given the Republicans the rope necessary to hang themselves. Manifestly he is a decent guy with a fine family. I will let others fill in the blanks as to what it means to be a Republican now.
The Post-ABC poll tells us how things are now - "public not yet sold on GOP." I suspect the next stage -- when the shock of the election wears off -- will be that the public feels totally conned by the GOP.
On with the 2012 Election Campaign . . .
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Breaking News Alert: Post-ABC poll: public not yet sold on GOP
December 14, 2010 5:03:15 PM
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"Republicans made major gains in the November elections but they have yet to win the hearts and minds of the American people, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
"The midterm elections – where Republicans gained 63 seats to take control of the House of Representatives and added six seats to their Senate minority – were widely seen as a rebuke to President Obama. Still, the public now trusts Obama marginally more than congressional Republicans to deal with the country’s main problems in the coming years, 43 to 38 percent. And when it comes to who has taken the stronger leadership role in Washington, it's an even divide: 43 percent say Obama, 42 percent the GOP."
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"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
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Ed Kent [blind copies]