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Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ChinuSFO who wrote (82066)	9/5/2010 12:40:48 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 149317

First thoughts: Mayday, mayday What explains the Democrats’ summer slide and where did it begin? Here’s one theory: go back to May… The two big external forces that month: the BP spill and the Greek/European economic instability… From Mark Murray and Ali Weinberg * Mayday, Mayday: There’s no question that this summer has been brutal for Democrats and the Obama White House. Just look at the national and race-by-race polls, and listen to the pundits who are predicting significant midterm losses for the party in power. But how do we explain -- both politically and economically -- this summer slide for Democrats? Where did it begin? Here's one theory: go back to May. At the beginning of that month, the NBC/WSJ poll showed President Obama's approval rating back at 50%, after the conclusion of the health-care debate; the same poll found that Obama’s economic handling number had inched up; and the jobs report for April revealed the economy added some 300,000 jobs, including sizable gains in the private sector. Happy days, it seemed, were here again. * Two disasters in May: But in May, there also were a series of disasters -- both figuratively and literally. The BP spill, which began in late April, became an ongoing news story that month, with Americans able to see on their TV sets all the oil gushing from the well. Yet the more significant event might have been what took place on May 6, when the economic instability in Greece and Europe took center stage and when the Dow tumbled nearly 1,000 points before partially recovering. And look at the numbers afterward: In our June NBC/WSJ poll, the president’s approval rating dropped to 45%; his economic handling went down; and the jobs report for May showed that while the economy added more than 400,000 jobs, almost all of them were Census jobs. Since then, the monthly jobs numbers have been on the minus side, and forecasters are predicting another net-negative report when the August numbers come out tomorrow. *** External forces matter: Of course, the BP spill, the instability in Europe, and the Dow’s plunge don’t explain the entire political and economic situation. The winds were already at the GOP’s back well before May (see Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts in January). The U.S. economy was severely weakened after the financial crash in 2008. The divisive debate over health care took a toll on Obama and the Democrats. And a series of distractions knocked the White House off message. But what May did was wipe out any Democratic hope for economic or political recovery in enough time for the midterms. That month also shows us that external forces do matter in politics; Team Obama should know after it benefited from Lehman Brothers’ collapse in Sept. 2008. And an external force or two might be the only thing standing in the way of big GOP gains come November. firstread.msnbc.msn.com

To: ChinuSFO who wrote (82066)	9/5/2010 12:45:28 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 149317

There are all sorts of speculations based on polls conducted when the people are not yet tuned in. Here in California, Jerry Brown has not started campaigning for Guv. and said he will start after Labor day. In the meantime, his rival has already spent tons conducting a negative TV ad campaign. So obviously, the polls will be in favor of Whitman now or indicate a close race. The same is the case with the Senate race between Boxer and Fiorina where Fiorina began her campaign since the Republican primary in March. I presume, this is the situation across the country. =========================================== Signs point to Republican Senate gains What I have been feeling for the past month is that the GOP is peaking......now........meaning too early. I learned this weekend that apparently, some GOP strategests are worried about the same thing. If true, I don't know how well the GOP will do come November. I do understand that til now the CA races have been all about Fiorina and Whitman. Hopefully, that will change soon. Brown needs to let CA know what arses Whitman's sons are........that the acorns don't fall far from the tree.