To the media in America, President Barack Obama can do little wrong. To the rest of America, he's the third least popular president since World War II. This according to a USAToday/Gallup poll released today.
And it should come as no surprise.
With a majority of Americans disagreeing with many of the president's top priorities, from healthcare to government spending to handling the economy, it appears that the president is grasping at straws. With his June 24 primetime town hall on healthcare getting pummeled in the ratings by CSI and The Philanthropist last month, the President is determined to not go down without a fight. If he cannot compel people to watch his diatribe on healthcare, he'll force people to watch. On July 22, 2009 a primetime presidential press conference will be held at 9:00pm EST. With the major networks sure to carry the event (CSI and the Philanthropist are out of the way) and with all the cable news channels covering the press conference as well, President Obama is sure to get his message out this time. But is it too little too late?
Consider this:
- Democrat members in the House and Senate are beginning to question the President's healthcare plan. As a result, the DNC is playing hardball and has purchased ad airtime in many key markets with those ads directed at their own Democratic representatives and senators.
- A 2012 matchup already has Mitt Romney tied with President Obama at 45%.
- Only 32% of Americans believe the country is headed in the right direction.
- Among all voters, Republicans beat Democrats on a generic congressional ballot 40% to 37%.
- Last but certainly not least, in that same poll independents would vote GOP by a 2-1 margin over their Democrat rivals.
President Obama's celebrity is fading fast. Maybe he should have stuck by his campaign promises of bipartisanship instead of, in the words of President Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, letting a good crisis go to waste. It appears that philosophy has all but backfired.
