Why theres still hope for progress from Obama, and evidence of progress being made.
Emma Carpenter, Staff Writer
Ideology: Liberal| Writing From: Vienna, Austria
He made so many promises. He promised to fix the economy, to make America green, to insure every American.
He promised that our country would continue to be great and would improve its standing on the world stage. It hasn’t happened… yet. Critics are quick to pounce at every mistake, every set back. But may I remind critics that we all gave George Bush a chance. He had eight years to show America the kind of president he could be. We haven’t even given Obama eight months and already he is being relentlessly attacked. His numbers are down. Currently anywhere between fifty-five and sixty percent of people polled approve of the way Obama is “handling his job” His disapproval ratings, in a similar pattern, are up six to eight percent since taking office
Presidents are given four years to keep promises. They have four years to deliver on the campaign promises that helped them get elected. That being said, it is unfair to judge Obama so quickly.
He inherited a mess. The economy is in shambles; we are fighting two wars, and facing an energy crisis. Before he can fix anything up, he has to fix the mess he inherited. This won’t be an easy process. No matter who was elected–be it Hillary Clinton or John McCain– no one would be able to fix the problems this country faces in a matter of months. Everyone expected the next President to move mountain, to return our country to prosperity, to bring peace. But how can that get done if we turn our backs at the first sign of turmoil? Just because he hasn’t yet, doesn’t mean that Obama cannot keep the promised he made during his campaign.
Perhaps a good measure of his first six months is to look at some of his accomplishments thus far:
Within a matter of days of being elected, he was on the Hill lobbying Congress to pass his stimulus package to help jump-start the economy.
He promised to withdraw from Iraq and he diligently came up with a timetable to remove troops by August 2010. He is confronting the conflicts in Afghanistan by sending additional troops and working on training an Afghan army and police force.
Obama is relentlessly emphasizing the importance of a green economy that creates new jobs as while harnessing the power of alternative energy sources.
He is also working on education reform, making college more affordable by adjusting the maximum Pell Grant award and giving the US Department of Education more funds to upgrade its systems.
All of these things are important and well within what he promised. Clearly, he is slowly tackling the problems he faces. They may be small steps, but at least they are steps in the right direction. As Obama continues to work, we must remember his triumphs as well as his failures. For his triumphs are our triumphs and his failures are our failures.
He gave so many people hope, restored their faith in America’s ability to be great. This is not the time to turn our back on those powerful messages. It has only been a few months. It took years to get to the point we are at now, so it will take years to mend the wounds and nurse America back to health and prosperity.
Obama deserves the energy and hope that surrounded his campaign as adjusts into his new role. Now more than ever he needs the support of his people. He can achieve nothing is we do not believe in him. Obama asked us to believe in his ability to bring change to Washington. He asked for our faith and our support. We cannot give up yet. Obama deserves our support as he tries to mend the country. That is not to say that we must blindly follow, but diligently question his ability to lead this country – an ability I still firmly believe he has.
The increasing disapproval rating isn’t really indicative of his policies — the fact of the matter is that the strongest correlation between approval rating and anything else is time in office. Almost always, the longer you spend in office, the lower your approval rating will be. Therefore, it’s not terribly surprising that Obama’s rating has begun to drop.
What Noah said. I don’t dispute anything you wrote but I’d expect this kind of defense of President amidst a much more desperate situation. The country’s far from saying “No he can’t.” A natural drop in his approval rating is not indicative of any sort of shift in political preference.
I believe Emma was most likely addressing his drop among independents.
Though he has lost major ground among Republicans, that is to be expected. Some democrats have begun to turn on him re: health care but the eight-to-ten point drop among independents (in about a two week period) should be cause for alarm.
His two largest initiatives right now – Cap & Trade and Healthcare – are under attack from both Republicans and Moderate Democrats and held up in Congress.
Certainly not the rosiest picture.
Conor, I’m not sure I buy the picture you’re painting: http://www.gallup.com/poll/121199/Obama-Weekly-Job-Approval-Demographic-Groups.aspx
He’s got a 58% approval rating (and a 34% disapproval rating), including a 52% approval rating in the South; a 70% approval rating among young voters; 81% approval among conservative Democrats; etc. etc.
That kind of drop in a poll is expected of any President that’s confronting two very contentious issues in a relatively short period of time. With that in mind, I’m surprised his polling numbers look as good as they do. If the public was truly “giving up on Obama” as this article tacitly implies, you’d see an exodus of independents from the Obama coalition.
What’s even more interesting is the number of “independents” who still support Obama, considering the fact that they joined the Democratic Party in droves to vote for him in the primary.