http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/28/baracks-in-the-basement/print/

 

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

EDITORIAL: Barack's in the basement

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

President Obama's media cheerleaders are hailing how loved he is. But at the 100-day mark of his presidency, Mr. Obama is the second-least-popular president in 40 years.

According to Gallup's April survey, Americans have a lower approval of Mr. Obama at this point than all but one president since Gallup began tracking this in 1969. The only new president less popular was Bill Clinton, who got off to a notoriously bad start after trying to force homosexuals on the military and a federal raid in Waco, Texas, that killed 86. Mr. Obama's current approval rating of 56 percent is only one tick higher than the 55-percent approval Mr. Clinton had during those crises.

As the attached chart shows, five presidents rated higher than Mr. Obama after 100 days in office. Ronald Reagan topped the charts in April 1981 with 67 percent approval. Following the Gipper, in order of popularity, were: Jimmy Carter with 63 percent in 1977; George W. Bush with 62 percent in 2001; Richard Nixon with 61 percent in 1969; and George H.W. Bush with 58 percent in 1989.

It's no surprise the liberal media aren't anxious to point out that their darling is less popular than George W. Bush. But given the Gallup numbers, their hurrahs could be more subdued. USA Today's front page touted the April poll results as positive, with the headline: "Public thinks highly of Obama." The current cover of Newsweek magazine ponders "The Secret of His [Mr. Obama's] Success." The comparison with previous presidents is useful because they are usually popular during their first few months in office - and most presidents have been more popular than Mr. Obama.

The explanation for Mr. Obama's low approval is that he ran as a moderate but has governed from the far left. The fawning and self-deceiving press won't go there. On Sunday's "Meet the Press," host David Gregory asked a panel about critics who "would say one of the things that he's done in 100 days already is expand the role of government, the size of government." Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin claimed, "That's what he ran for the presidency in the first place for."

Perplexed about complaints over Mr. Obama's expansion of government, Newsweek editor Jon Meacham asked: "does no one listen during campaigns?"

It was these pundits who weren't paying attention during last year's campaign. In all three presidential debates, Mr. Obama promised to cut government spending and reduce the size of the deficit. He blamed the economic crisis on excessive deficits. At no time did candidate Barack Obama say that more deficit-spending was the solution.

Mr. Obama's popularity after 100 days is the second-lowest for a simple reason: He is more partisan and divisive than his predecessors - including Richard Nixon.

That is not borne out by other polls.

Again, why would anyone feel compelled to pay attention to a racist prick like you?

Jim..

Well, I went to Gallup's site, and I'm not finding numbers to match what this article says.

Here's a representative example of the kind of number's I found there:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/117598/Obama-Averages-Approval-First-Quarter.aspx

Obama Averages 63% Approval in His First Quarter
Highest first-quarter average since 1977
by Jeffrey M. Jones

PRINCETON, NJ -- Barack Obama's first quarter in office concludes on Sunday, and during this early stage of his presidency he has averaged a solid 63% job approval, reaching as high as 69% in the initial days of his presidency and falling as low as 59% on a few occasions.

and:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/117355/Obama-Approval-Rating-Stable-Polarized.aspx

PRINCETON, NJ -- President Barack Obama's overall job approval rating has been highly stable since mid-February, averaging 62% since Feb. 16, as well as in the most recent week, from March 30 through April 5.

Still enjoying a honeymoon period, Obama's approval rating has fallen only slightly from its 67% starting point even as he has outlined an ambitious agenda that has been controversial to some with regard to the costs to taxpayers and the proposed expansion of the federal government's role in the economy.

So far, Obama's actions have served to turn off only a rather limited number of Republicans. He began his term with a 41% approval rating among Republicans -- not outstanding but certainly healthy when juxtaposed against the largely single-digit approval ratings for George W. Bush among Democrats in the last year and a half of his presidency.

Obama's approval rating among Republicans declined rather quickly in the weeks after his inauguration and was 27% this past week. So even though he still claims a substantial minority of Republicans as supporters, this group is about one-third smaller than at the outset of his presidency.

Meanwhile, Obama's approval ratings among Democrats and independents have been highly stable. Last week's averages of 90% approval from Democrats and 60% from independents nearly match the averages for his presidency to date.

and:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/117853/First-100-Days-Obama-Meets-Exceeds-Expectations.aspx

In First 100 Days, Obama Meets or Exceeds Expectations
Praise for Obama on the economy, foreign policy; criticism on budgetary matters
by Lydia Saad

PRINCETON, NJ -- President Obama begins the second 100 days of his presidency with 56% of Americans believing he has done an excellent or good job thus far, and only 20% saying he has done a poor or terrible job. According to the new USA Today/Gallup poll, conducted April 20-21, about a quarter of Americans are on the fence, saying his performance has been "just okay."

All polls can be interpreted to come out the way the author wants.  We know what they want. 


~~life isn't about how to survive the storm but how to dance in the rain~~

When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends.
Japanese Proverb

The sonuvabitch is after all the darling of the liberal media, keeping his face in the public eye with positive reports.

MEDIA BOOST OBAMA, BASH HIS POLICIES

STUDY FINDS PRESIDENT FARES BEST IN NEW YORK TIMES, WORST ON FOX NEWS

HE ATTRACTS MORE EARLY COVERAGE THAN G.W. BUSH AND BILL CLINTON COMBINED

The media have given President Obama more coverage than George W. Bush and Bill Clinton combined and more positive coverage than either received at this point in their presidencies, according to a new study by researchers at George Mason and Chapman Universities. But the study also finds that Mr. Obamas positive media image hasnt precluded heavy criticism of his policies.

This research was conducted jointly by researchers at George Mason University in Fairfax VA and Chapman University in Orange CA, and coordinated by the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA). It covers all news about Barack Obamas presidency that appeared on the ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox evening newscasts (the first half hour of Fox News Channels Special Report) as well as front page stories in the New York Times, during the first 50 days of his term in office (January 20 through March 10). We examined all evaluations made by reporters and non-partisan sources, i.e., those not affiliated with either political party. For additional information on our methodology seehttp://cmpa.com/about_methods.htm

During his first 50 days in office, the three broadcast network evening news shows devoted 1021 stories lasting 27 hours 44 minutes to Barack Obamas presidency. The daily average of seven stories and over 11 minutes of airtime represents about half of the entire newscasts. By contrast, at this point in their presidencies George W. Bush had received 7 hours 42 minutes and Bill Clinton garnered 15 hours 2 minutes of coverage, for a combined total airtime five hours less than Mr. Obamas.

The networks varied in their attention to the Obama administration. CBS led the coverage with 365 stories and 10 hours 46 minutes of airtime, followed by NBC with 327 stories and 9 hours 38 minutes, and ABC with 329 stories and 7 hours 20 minutes. Thus, CBS has given more coverage to the Obama administration than all three networks combined gave to the first 50 days of George W. Bushs presidency.

In addition, the first half hour of Fox News Special Report (which most closely resembles the broadcast network newscasts) devoted 10 hours 24 minutes to the Obama administration, nearly as much airtime as CBS gave him. And the New York Times devoted 115 front-page stories running 3385 column inches, the equivalent of over 28 full pages of text, to the Obama presidency.

Mr. Obama has received not only more press but also better press than his immediate predecessors. On the ABC, CBS, and NBC evening news, fifty-eight percent of all evaluations of the president and his policies have been favorable, and 42 percent were unfavorable. CMPAs previous studies of network news found that George W. Bush received only 33 percent positive evaluations by sources and reporters during the first 50 days of his administration in 2001, and Bill Clinton received only 44 percent positive evaluations during his first ten weeks (70 days) in office in 1993. (As noted above, these figures are based on judgments by reporters and sources not affiliated with either political party.)

The three networks have evaluated Mr. Obama very similarly 57% positive comments on ABC, 58% positive on CBS, and 61% positive on NBC. But he fared far better in New York Times stories, where nearly three out of four evaluative comments (73%) by sources and reporters were favorable. And he fared far worse on Fox News, where only one out of eight such comments (13%) were favorable. Examples:

Positive Example: I was blown away by President Obamas grasp of the subject. How he connected the dots. How he answered the questions without any script. -- George Stephanopoulos, ABC, March 5

Positive Example: President Obama has done more in one week to reduce oil dependence and global warming than George Bush did in eight years. -- Environmentalist, New York Times, Jan. 26

Negative Example: The [employment] numbers the Obama administration is throwing around are absolutely inaccurate a gross exaggeration. -- Economist, Fox, Feb. 20

While Mr. Obamas personal qualities and leadership abilities have drawn mostly praise from the mainstream media, his policies have not fared so well. On the broadcast networks fewer than two out of five evaluative soundbites (39%) praised his policies and proposals. ABCs policy coverage was relatively balanced (48% positive), while source and reporter comments ran over two to one negative at both CBS (32% positive) and NBC (31% positive).

TV news coverage of the presidents economic policies, which focused mainly on the economic stimulus and the various proposed and enacted industry bailouts, garnered support from only 37% of evaluative soundbites. He fared better on domestic issues other than the economy, where praise for his health care proposals and new stem cell research policy brought balanced coverage overall (50% positive). But only one out of four comments (24%) praised his foreign policy decisions, including the war on terror.

Negative Example: The Obama administration is paying too much money to the wrong people. Economist, CBS, March 20

The New York Times policy coverage, while less positive than its personal coverage of Mr. Obama, was about evenly divided between praise and criticism (48% positive). Although similar to the broadcast networks in its treatment of economic policy (40% positive), the Times portrayed other domestic policy areas relatively favorably (60% positive), and its 39% positive coverage of foreign policy domains was still more favorable than the networks 24% positive coverage.

Positive Example: Mr. Obamas actions reaffirmed American values and are a ray of light after eight long, dark years. ACLU executive, New York Times, Jan. 22

By contrast, Fox News coverage was even more negative toward Mr. Obamas policies than the Times was positive. Only one out of twelve evaluative soundbites (8%) praised any of the presidents policies, including six percent positive judgments on the economic matters, seven percent on other domestic issues, and 17% on foreign affairs.

Negative Example: Its easy to spend someone elses money. Its not only irresponsible, its unethical. President, Peterson Foundation, Fox, February 20

Across all outlets, the ten most frequently debated issues were: 1. Economic stimulus -- 287 stories; 2. Industry bailouts 114 stories; 3. Budget/deficit 74 stories; 4. Terrorism -- 64 stories; 5. Healthcare 61 stories; 6. Taxes 45 stories; 7. Economic conditions 38 stories; 8. Afghanistan 31 stories; 9. Defense 16 stories; 10. Iraq 12 stories.

CMPA is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization which is affiliated with George Mason University. It has monitored every presidential election since 1988 using the same methodology, in which trained coders tally mentions of candidates and issues and evaluations of candidates. For CMPA findings on the 2008 elections:http://cmpa.com/Studies/Election08/election08.htm

http://www.cmpa.com/media_room_4_27_09.htm

pfffftttt. With approval ratings hovering at 69%, an editorial from a newspaper that is as biased as this one means pfffffttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt