Obama riding high on eve of big speech
As he prepares to give his version of the State of the Union tonight, President Obama continues to hold the confidence of most Americans, even though support is dividing again along partisan fault lines.
Two new polls published today show his approval ratings in the political stratosphere, relatively speaking.
A Washington Post/ABC News survey puts his approval rating at 68 percent and says that 64 percent support the $787 billion stimulus package he championed.
A New York Times/CBS survey puts his approval rating at 63 percent and an even higher 77 percent said they are optimistic about the next four years under an Obama administration.
New findings released from a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey last week found that expectations are high for Obama's 9 p.m. address to a joint session of Congress, though not as high as they had been. In the recent survey, 28 percent said they expected the speech to be excellent and 44 percent expected it to be good. But that's down from 44 percent excellent and 41 percent good last month.
Previewing the speech, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs went on the morning news shows today to say that Obama will continue focusing on the faltering economy -- what has been done so far and what more needs to be done -- and continue the balancing act between being honest about the problems yet hopeful about the future.
"What I think the President is going to do tonight, and what I think he thinks is important is, to be honest with the American people about the challenges we face and talk about what we are doing each and every day to get our economy back on track,” Gibbs said on Fox News Channel. “The notion that brighter days are ahead.”
John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest labor federation, issued a statement with his expectations.
"Working people will be listening tonight for President Obama to make crystal clear that as we rebuild our nation’s economy, we will build it in a way that will work for everyone," said Sweeney, who will attend the speech as a guest of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
"President Obama’s economic recovery plan was a critical first step towards putting America back to work. Tonight, we hope to hear more about his plans to invest in infrastructure spending so we can rebuild America’s bridges and transportation systems with workers being paid a fair wage; to promote green technologies that will create good paying
jobs while also protecting our environment; and to provide universal healthcare for all Americans that will help millions of struggling families and help our economy recover.
"President Obama understands – and has said repeatedly – that our economy has become fundamentally imbalanced with too much power concentrated in the very few hands of the wealthy and corporate CEOs. It is time that America’s workers have a real voice on the job to bargain for better health care, job security, and wages without fear of harassment or intimidation.
"President Obama has shown tremendous leadership towards improving the lives of America’s workers – we look forward to hearing more tonight."
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Not sure if anything can be done to get this economy back on a solid footing. Years of profligate spending, borrowing and failure to monitor corporate CED's have lead us to the breaking point. Perhaps we need to go through the hardship suffered by the Asian tigers in 1997.
The "President is riding high"? Really? He's riding as high as the stock market. How's that doing again? "Riding high"=couldn't have done more damage in less time.
No matter what the anti-patriotic right wing of the republican party, which has made the old regime look like liberals says, thinks, or does, they all know that they screwed up backing their idiot son of an asshole, Bush. Now they're paying the price and instead of taking it like men, they're trying to derail the new president's agenda.....even though that agenda was what the majority of voters asked for. These are not men and women who wish to serve our country, they want to tear our country down for selfish motivations. None of them-Bush, Cheney, McCain, Boehner, Cantor, right down the line deserve to call this country home.
Pollsters can get any answer they want, and the approval numbers seem unbelievable.
So far, Obama has paid back his campaign supporters, rolled back welfare reform, stampeded the Congress into signing a bill which they have not read, put Government controls on Doctors, and has spent money at such a rate that he makes drunken sailors look frugal.
He has taken the side of the Palestinians against Israel, appointed Israel haters to high posts, appointed a black racist as Attorney General, made a fool of himself diplomatically with Iran and Hamas, politicized the Census Bureau in contravention of the Constitution, appointed so many White House staff people to override the Cabinet Officers, ignored all advice on the economy, and has shown his arrogance by repeatedly saying "I won" when challenged to explain his decisions.
Now, he is saying he will cut the deficit in half, mostly by raising taxes on the business owners and investors. Oh sure, they won't have the money to invest in expansion, hiring people and growing. So, no jobs means no confidence in the market, and increased deficits. Since he was nominated the financial markets have plunged because of his policies.
He is poison to the economy because he is anti-business, anti-capitalist, and he conducted an election campaign which was unethical, committed illegal acts, voter fraud, and even now it is unknown just how much money was contributed by foreigners who could well be America's enemies.
He refers to the Constitution as an old outdated piece of paper. He intends to curtail our free speech rights with community activists on radio station programming boards, and trample on our rights to private property in order to give it to minorities.
He says he is giving a tax cut while planning the largest tax increase in history. There is nothing he says which can be believed. It seems he makes impossible promises and actually believes that saying it will make it so.
He is unfit to be President and he will bring the country to a Depression if he does not start thinking about the consequences of his acts.
We have nothing to fear except Obama himself. We are just in the beginning of the Obama Depression and it will get much worse as long as he is President -- because he is like a ventriloquist's dummy, all flash but there is nothing there.
If so many people like what they see from Obama's first 30 days then we are truly doomed.
OK Globe....this is like asking the cheerleaders(WP/ABC/CBS & NYT) what they think of their quarterback......good hard reporting here.
How about correcting this:
"New findings released from a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey last week found that expectations are high for Obama's 9 p.m. address to a joint session of Congress, though not as high as they had been. In the recent survey, 28 percent said they expected the speech to be excellent and 44 percent expected it to be good. But that's down from 44 percent excellent and 41 percent good last month."
This is a comparison between the inaugural and the speec tonight. Why can an ordinary citizen know facts ,and not reporters?
Strange.
On articles related to nationalization of banks, you can't put up comments.
The people who control our news really want to limit that to dictate the news to you. No discussion on that subject.
Strange.
Nationalize a bank that needs $100 billion? A $2 trillion dollar bank? A bank that was paying $11 billion in annual dividends to shareholders two years ago? When the economy turns they could pay off a loan in no time at all. So why nationalization?
Because doing so will eventuall lead to complete control of that industry by a very few mega rich people who would reap billions on the "private equity investment."
Massive rip off, the biggest in US history.
Being hopeful doesn't mean being pollyanna-ish. He doesn't need to tell us everything's okay and we should just go shopping. That's what the Republicans are for. He needs to tell us how his bill is going to help and what else needs to get done, then to assure us that it will work. Let us know that there's a reason we're laying out this money. Let us know that we can help!
Instead of giving all this money to banks which have been foolish in the past, why not give the monies to banks which do not need it on the condition that the money be loaned out with certain underwriting rules. Why are we giving money to the same people that got us into this mess.
Hey Liberals Defend THIS PLEASE, remember that Poor homeless lady at Obama's town hall Q&A two weeks ago. Well...................
It appears that the desperate homeless woman owns real estate she shifted into the name of her son to avoid taxes and acquire government aid..Henrietta also apparently sold real estate at a significant profit in 2005.
THIS IS WERE YOUR TAXES DOLLARS ARE GOING!!
Where do all of these right wing nut-jobs come from. This is a bluer than blue state.
It must be horrible to live in this state if you are a Republican.
Please go live in some red state.
What always amazes me is how the people who can least afford to have Republicans runnijg the country, line up to vote for them.
Are you all insane.
If you are a regular working person then you should not even consider voting for a RepublicanBob
In answer to Mr. Lemay,Pres. Obama said "I won" twice,not continually (like he should have said) the cry baby right wingers,conservatives or what ever you want to call them "have lost". You people can't take it like men,you lost period. What intelligent comments or programs have you come up with except the word NO,NO,and No again. Lets give this man a chance,we gave G.W. a pass for eight years,look at the mess we are in,the fox's have been guarding the chicken coop far to long.
No matter what the anti-patriotic right wing of the republican party, which has made the old regime look like liberals says, thinks, or does, they all know that they screwed up backing their idiot son of an asshole, Bush. Now they're paying the price and instead of taking it like men, they're trying to derail the new president's agenda.....even though that agenda was what the majority of voters asked for. These are not men and women who wish to serve our country, they want to tear our country down for selfish motivations. None of them-Bush, Cheney, McCain, Boehner, Cantor, right down the line deserve to call this country home.
ME: YOU CAN SAY ASSHOLE?? Read the first sentence.
What's interesting is that for Obama's approval ratings to be as high as they are, they likely include a fair percentage of Republicans approving of his work. If you read only message boards, you might think all Republicans think Obama's is terrible, but that's mostly the uninformed extreme right wing. Most Americans, and a fair share of average Republicans, recognize that what he's doing is good. Of course the market is going down. Obama is step-by-step restoring the fundamentals, and when you've been essentially running financials "scams", as many corporations were, your investors may not react well, because the short term gains aren't going to be there any more, nor should they be. This is about rebuilding a system the worst president in history destroyed. It's funny how everyone agreed fixing the financial mess left by Bush would take a long time, but the right wing extremists have decided to pretend like they're shocked everything is now not fixed after 1 month. Anyone who even understands the first thing about economic knows Obama's moves so far make the most sense for the long term. The Dow has never been a comprehensive measure of the economy, but rather a barometer of speculators' beliefs in specific key stocks' futures - and over the last decade it's become about short term outlook, not long term.
Obama is doing a great job so far. Most Americans, liberal and conservative, see that, as evidenced by the numbers. And his economic moves are excellent ones to rebuild fundamentals, despite short term reaction, as evidenced by most economists, liberal and conservative. If all you do is listen to conservative talk radio or fox news, you're getting a lot of misinformation and half-truths for the purposes of riling you up. But if you want reality, you'll understand how much better things are getting - not short term, but for the long term. Bush built a big ditch. It's going to take a while to get out of it.
Jeffery from MS. Your venting is filled with verbal diarreah.It has no merit and no thought put into it. You are a moron and just one of the right wing idiot who has his blinders on.
The "Obama depression"? What are you talking about? How can we be at the start of a depression when the man has been president for about a month? Its utterly laughable. Any fool could tell you that trying to finance huge tax cuts while running two wars would kill the deficit. Any fool could tell you that no regulations on Wall St. would lead to the eventual risky use of people's investments. Wall St. and Bush caused this "depression", "recession", whatever you want to call it. The gall of Republicans to even pretend they are the party of fiscal responsibility. So now that we have to do a stimulus to get the economy moving the Republicans are angry there is not enough "tax cuts" for big business in it. Surprise, surprise.
Bob,
Yeah the Dems having full control of Mass is great...running it righ into the ground. What are you talking about regular working people cant afford to vote republican - are you crazy all the Dems want to do is raise taxes not only on you but on your employer. Who is paying for these taxes - the REGULAR WORKING PEOPLE. As they continue to raise taxes and you lose your job just remember who you voted for
The popular President's economic plan will simply not work because so many factors are outside of his control.
"IMPEACH THE BAILOUT"
Gerald and the rest of tou liberal lemming little piggies - I'd call you poor saps but you would love it as do all you liberal victims ...keep watching CNN and the rest of the biased news media including the Globe - Obama is a moron ( I can see you you voted for him you have a lot in common). He will be a disgracegul one term president if we are lucky. Here is the liberal motto ...change snort oink gimme gimme gimme snort oink change
Gallup has Obama's approval at 59% today...it has been falling steadily. I don't trust the media to be the ones conducting polls.
Who is represented in these polls? Every dollar sucking welfare recipient you could muster? Ask the real people who are paying all the taxes and this "riding high" scenario you have concocted will turn on its ugly head.
There is a plan for the banks and the auto makers already in place. It is called bankruptcy court. A structured bankruptcy and the government supports them on the way out after they have shed the unions, toxic assets and other debts. Our government is doing their best to spin this as something that we have to do to protect the country. In reality it is to pass off to the American People the trillions in debt to protect the bankers and the unions that are giving them their marching orders.
TO Jeffrey MS: The problems in this country have been festering since the 70's. It's not the Democrats or the Republicans fault. It is EVERYBODY in politics. The political class in America has successfully pitted the people against each other to their advantage. Look around you. Every institution in this country is breaking down from years of rot and neglect. You tell me what the difference between a Senator, a con man and a CEO. There is no difference. The longer the Left vs Right madness goes on the more the chips are stacked against We The People. Term Limits will save America, not you're childish rant about a former President. Good luck America........we're running quickly out of time.
"We Must Spend to Save" according to the liberals under George Bush's uncontrolled spending got to where we are now. Now that it's a Democrat doing it, it's going to save the economy.
Same thing with the troop build up in Afganistan, I don't hear you liberals complaining that 17,000 more troops are going there.
The Washington Post and New York Times. Well, that says a lot about the credibility of the poll numbers. Riding so high that well,........... He'll be on the cover of Time once again and Chris Matthews will be tingling all over!!
Jeff From Boston
Hi. I have a masters degree in finance. Does that qualify me as someone who knows "the 1st thing about economics"? Because I can tell that you do not. Pushing tax up on business? So the economy is terrible and no one can turn much of a profit. I know what we can do, raise tax on business, that should help them make $$!! And by the way, here is another economics 101 lesson for you. Stocks are forward looking. If people thought B.O. was making the right moves, the market would go up instantly.
Steve From Malden
Steve from Malden
If you think the slumping economy is due entirely to the greed of corporate CEOs and their like, you are fools. I bet you lemmings can't wait to hear the continuous beating drum of class envy from Comrade Obama tonight.
Our President Obama is doing an awesome job given that the Republican Administration has run things in the ground: frivolous spending out of control, stuffing their big giants pockets while the poor gets more poor; it's about time
there's accountability from the top down. I am thanking God that finally a new day has come that will turn this administration around. Enough already!!!!
Oh yeah .. just can't wait. I'm sure this whole economic plan is going to be heavy with reliance on economic liberty and the free market.
My guess is that the stock market is going to hate it. A man who's sense of alienation in college sent him into the embrace of Marxist professors and student groups, is going to tell us of his grand plans tonight. Cancel my reservations at McDonalds.
Funny, funny funny!!!! Good politician's do not usually make good economists. $787 billion dollar bailout? Good idea, if the country actually had $787 billion in assets to back it up. Let add another trillion dollars of make-believe money on top of that. Things are about to get very scary people and it doesn't matter who's in charge democrat or republican. We will see a massive failure of the federal government. We all better learn to speak chinese.
Is it me? Or is there nothing sweeter than the sounds of right-wingers whining. It usually means the country is heading in the right direction.
Actually, while Obama's numbers are still high, they are falling. Both Rasmussen and Gallup now have his approval under 60%. He has lost 10 points in his approval rating over his first month in office. Not good for him, but good for the country. His approval will be in the high 30's/low 40's by the end of summer.
I really liked Jeff from Boston's comment saying that if we have such high approval numbers that means that many Republicans are behind Obama. I think that your totally on target there. Many good Republican friends of mine actually voted for Obama. So, he is right that there are a lot of extreme right wing conservatives blogging and we should ignore them. They are really irrelevant considering the high approval numbers we are seeing for President Obama. I am thrilled that Obama got through to people that his is a genuine about what he wants to do for the Ameican people. He is doing as he promised. I am thrilled that he is even better than I thought he could be. God sent the right man for the job!
What is the definition of leadership? There is no mystery why voters sought out an intelligent president. If you only listen to Rush and Shawn during the day spewing anti-USA hatred, then watch FOX in the evening to be fair and balanced, I can see why you lead an uninformed existence and comment negatively as above. All the money disappeared from 2000 to 2008. The NEOCON spending spree concluded with Bush and Paulson giving away 750 billion dollars of taxpayer money trying to save their bacon, not the taxpayers money. Go rent the movie "W" if you have the stones. It is likely not far from the truth. At least this president can think on his feet, speak coherent english and represent the USA with the leadership and dignity sorrily missed for 8 years.