Obama's poll numbers drop

Every time I see one of these "ratings" stories I wonder how bad off we would be right now with geezer McCain and his airhead Barbie-doll VP pick in office instead. Thank god the American people finally woke up and elected a decent and forward-looking man to the office regardless of his skin color. I have never been so proud to be an American now that the bible-thumping imperialism of the right has been delt a blow which they are obviously having great difficulty recovering from.

As bad as it is now, it's going to get much, more worse. Wait until the Dems fracture and start eating their own. People aren't going to believe the paralysis and incompetence these people will deliver. The 3 Stooges (Reid, Pelosi, and Biden) will keep things in continuous turmoil until we send them packing, and even the community-organizer-in-chief will be unable to hold things together.
God Save the Republic.

i absolutely hop obama's policies fail. his socialized medicine and corporate welfare for AIG and the banks and the autos is a disgrace. he coddles terrorists pals around and supports south american dictators, allows NK to shoot missiles at Hawaii, kills embryos and is running the economy into the ground all the while saying "it's not my fault". ha ha libs are sooo clueless. bush was one of the best prezs this country ever had and libs had that. your corrupt messiah from the streets of chicago who is a racist and appoints racists to the SCOTUS is a disgrace. it will be a pleasure watching his administration fail over the coming months.

The Rasmussen poll at www.rasmussenreports.com gives him an approval rating of -8 among likely voters. That is strong approves minus strong disapproves. The margin of general approves vs general disapproves is 51% approve, 48% disapprove. His trend has been distinctly downwards of recent.

Those numbers are pretty good. 2/3rds of Americans? I'll take that. That, plus the fact that Bush/Cheney could barely make it out of the 20s with their approval ratings, gives me some hope for humanity.

Just remember as you read comments here, No one can turn around an economy in 6 months, it's impossible. Second, most of the people here bashing Obama are the same people who tore apart Clinton, who preceded over one of the most prosperous era's in U.S. history, so don't be fooled. And out of control spending talk is really rich after what happenned the past 8 years, now for all you little ones who missed econ 101, let me give you a quick update...If the private sector contracts spending by record amounts, and the government does the same at the same time, what do you get...that's right children, record losses of GDP, leading to a further spiral...Anyone with a basic knwledge of Macro economics knows the last thing a government does in a recession is cut spending, it needs to be done during times of prosperity, which wasn't done here.

John P,
Bush was a DISASTER. This guy is going down as the worst president in History. Obama is just putting the finishing touches on bankrupting the nation. Basically nobody wanted to be a responsible president and balance budgets. Clinton did balance the budget until we get silver spoon fed Georgie for president that are costing the tax payer trillions. Bottom line the entire situation falls on Alan Greenspan back. Both Republicans & Democrats are the root of the problem and the only true American is RON PAUL.

What we need is a new conservative party that will represent the middle class, average American.

The Republicans used to be that, but the religious right and Bush turned them toxic. They no longer stand for small government or personal freedom.

Many average Americans became Democrats not by choice, but because there was no viable third option. I refuse to believe that the tax and spend, free ride on the gravy train Democratic party represents the ideals of the majority of Americans. But I cannot blame many for voting this party, they are simply choosing the lesser of two evils.

We either need a shift in the Republicans back to form (and away from the religious extremists) or we need a new party.

A party of common sense, that understands that government is not the answer to everything. That people are smart and can be/should be held responsible for their actions. That realizes that most people work very hard for their money and should be allowed to keep it and use it at their own discretion (ie. Not be taxed to pay for programs they don’t use or want).

Our two parties are now more alike than different and neither is representing the middle of America.

Unfortunately it seems that the fringe members of each side are the most motivated and thus in the best position to push their agendas.

We need real change to the MIDDLE!

Its Bushes fault come on liberals that's what you want to say! Trillions of our money spent and where are all the jobs ? Bushes fault. Our children and their children will be paying for these bailouts. Bushes fault started with Reagan. Obama flying to all these communist countries apologizing for Americans, Obama no country has done more for others than America. Must be Bushes fault. Ask yourself if your a hard working American are you better off after all the trillions given away, If your here illegally or spent your life living off everyone else I know your answer.

Hey Informed: Do your research, the TARP was for "Green Jobs", job creation, and to help rebuild our infrastructure. Instead they used the money for dead beat states. If you look at how many people California hired in the past 10 years, you can understand why they are in the shape they are in.

The reason why our infrastructure is crumbling is because governments have cut maintenance from our operating budgets and have let wages get out of control. So the line items for infrastructure got squeezed and eventually kicked out of the pie and after decades of neglect and after decades past the infrastructures life span, we needed to invest in rebuilding them. Well, the money isn't making it to these projects because we never arrested the original problem, the reason why they weren't being maintained in the first place, because we have too many people on the public dole and they needed to cut government spending, useless government jobs of manufactured red tape and bueaurcracy and all the benefits with them. Dukakis thought that it was better to offer someone a job than to give him welfare, well now we've got to pay for the benefits of all these useless chairwarmers because they're retiring. The parasites of the unions and those on the public dole are killing those that are trying to sustain us. Don't resent those that are trying to provide.

Nothing another stimulus, airline takeover, and dozen more Czars won't fix. It is amazing that it took so long.

hummm....I would like to see the PEOPLE of this country get a stimulus check.
Our money? Where?
It's not in my pocket. That stupid federal tax cut is a big joke. It was lost the minute it was instituted to the rising gas prices again. And don't tell me, it's still less than a year ago. Big whip.

People elected Obama because they think he is capable of "quick fix" of everything.
If he cannot deliver, then his poll rating drops. You can say that people's expection is unrealistic. But that is the reality. Obama and Democrates DID position themselves as the "can fix everything" president and party. Now they have to deliver. There is no use to blame Bush and anyone else. It is his White House and his party now.

All one has to do is read a history book, something liberals don't do very often (to a liberal, "history" goes back to about 1992). Obama is a true Progressive, and improving the economy is way down the list of any Progressive's priorities. Truth is, their higher priority is righting all the inequities they perceive in society. If the economy improves, great. Just a bonus. But they care first and foremost about implementing their radical social agenda, and taking back from the evil rich people all the wealth they 'stole' from the common working (and non-working) folks.

So their social-repair agenda will be first and foremost; don't act surprised when our economy gets worse here in the next year or so. Just read what FDR and his legion of followers preached in 1931, and look at what happened once he was elected from 1932-1940.

Birdman, Bush was president for 8 years, with a fully compliant Congress for 6 of them...Yup, must be the cookie monsters fault. But i find it amusing you attack the one guy defending Dems, but you fail to point out the absolute ignorance of the people posting about Obama less than 6 months into his office as somehow bearing any responsibility for this mess...Talk about dumbed down sheep

Greg Rogers:
Interesting, you say you can't blame Obama for what's happening in 2009. But if you are like the rest of your Obama-maniac fans, you blamed Bush for the recession of 2001. Hmmmm. Something doesn't add up. But then, things usually don't add up when you ask a Democrat to do the math...

Greg Rodgers... Buy a Clue...

Democrats have had control of congress for the past 3 years. This includes the period of time in which our economy fell off the map.

If you can't look past G.W. Bush for leadership in Washington then you're basically admitting that you think he is a criminal genious. THAT is how ridiculous all of you who are so willing to point out a single 'scapegoat' for this whole mess seem.

If you want to place blame for the market meltdown, you need to look back to the Clinton Administration. He removed regulations that that stopped banks from growing to "to big to fail" size. Those regulations were put in place after the great depression for a reason. Bush just added fuel to the fire by doing nothing. Now Obama is now making it worse, by spending money and not fixing the problem.... The rules Clinton removed need to be put back in place.

why don't you ask all the chrysler dealers that he let his so called task force to close,putting many hard working people out of work,and dlr.owners forced into bankrupcy.WITH NO HELP FROM THE GOVERMENT.

Wait a sec, was there a problem that needed fixing? I thought everything was fine because of the last president who led America to the greatest 8 years of prosperity in the history of any country on this planet. Obama in just 6 months has turned that into a trainwreck. Just look at the ultimate deficit that tax and spend Dems like Clinton got us into. If only congress had not instituted term limits, we could have the far more experienced and intelligent leaders we unfortunately had to let go. Americans are truly fools for not electing someone who recognized the success of the past and would have continued in exactly the same way for another 4 years along with a vice president who would have been there "for better or for worse," to carry the honeymoon conceit, for at least six months. With the election only about 4 years away, it is good to see the potential replacements for this dud elected by the people already hitting the campaign trail.

Maybe all the misty eyed masses that were having a religious experience the night of his acceptance speech are done chanting hope and change as a mantra like a bunch of cargo cult primitives waiting for goods to appear from the skies.

Who Will Bail Out Uncle Sam and Obama
The United States of America is bankrupt. Don’t believe it? Consider this: Federal obligations now exceed the collective net worth of all Americans, according to the New York-based Peter G. Peterson Foundation. Washington politicians and bureaucrats have essentially mortgaged everything We the People own so they can keep spending our tax dollars like there’s no tomorrow.
The foundation’s grim calculations are based on June. 30 consolidated federal statements, which showed that Americans’ total household net worth, diminished by falling stock prices and home equity, is $43.5 trillion. But rising costs for unfunded social programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security increased to $76.4 trillion – and that was before the more recent stock market crash, $700 billion bank bailout, and monster federal deficits chalked up in last October and November.
“Given more recent developments, it’s clear that America now owes more than its citizens are worth,” said Foundation president David M. Walker, the former Comptroller-General of the United States who has been trying to warn Americans of the coming financial tsunami for years, to no avail. So, after Uncle Sam bails out bankers, Wall Street gamblers, carmakers and over-their-head homeowners, who’ll bail out Uncle Sam?

Too bad Barry, Michelle, her mother and the kids couldn't have stayed in Russia where the President's socialist policies would work better! With this fraud at the helm this country will keep sliding into the abys. I truly believe America's brightest days are ahead, but we first have to endure another three and a half years of this joker in the White House. I'm just glad to see some Americans are waking up to see what a mistake it was to vote BHO into office.

Do you want to see the future under this current Democratic administration and congress. Look at California. For the past 20 years Democratic legislatures have piled up entitlements, government run programs and special treatment for public workers unions.

Now that it has all collapsed and the California's state bonds have been pegged to essentially junk status, how do the California Democrats want to fix their huge budget deficit? Why raise taxes - of course! Brilliant choice in this already high tax state. America welcome to your future.

Americal

See this is what liberals do, blame blame blame. Lets not forget the Dems have held congress for 2 years before the messiah got elected and they did nothing!! They had a worse approval rating the GWB. Lets stop the blame game libs and see whats going on right now. This country is worse off than it has ever been since he's been in office and not to mention a far weaker one.

CNN poll? How can anyone take this seriously? Anyone knows you can design a poll to tell you anything you want to hear. Of all the "major media" outlets CNN may be the most far-left biased of them all. If their poll shows 61% Obama at approval its probably closer tp 21%

Bush/Cheney's approval rating was higher at this point in their term.

So wash the first George Bush.

Uneducated people should not share their uneducated opinions...

He's still 5 million times better than Bush. At least he acknowledges that there is a problem and attempts to fix it. Bush and his billionaire buddies failed to even recognize that the middle class is dying a slow, painful death in the country. Probably because they were too busy making money hand over fist with the oil gouging and all.

The guy hasn't even been in office for 7 full months. I didn't know the worst recession in 80 years had the potential to be fixed in a half year. Way too unrealistic.

Come on, we all know it's all Bill Clinton's fault. How dare he hand over a $2 billion surplus to Bush!!

Socialism works just great, until you run out of other people's money...which you always eventually do...

You NEVER put democrats in charge of ANYTHING that is ultimately truly important, like economics.

You put democrats in charge of running a party and bringing the chips. You don't put them in the Senate or White House! (Duh!)

People over 30 should know this by now and have no excuse. Your grandchildren will be slaves in a Chinese coal mine, located in America!

Very interesting comments here and a lot of valid anger over our current situation; and other than some long-winded rhetoric virtually everyone is right on point (both sides). But you see the thing really is there are NOT two sides to this there are three; Republican, Democratic, and American. It seems that the biggest ROOT cause of the current USA situation is the political parties and their agendas… and yes Democrat Clinton was right in there among the Republican presidents. There’s always a lot of talk in the air about ‘rebuilding the party’, ‘strengthening the party position’, ‘fighting the opposition’…etc. Personally I’d like to hear a little more talk about ‘rebuilding America’ and ‘strengthening America’s position’ because I’m not a Republican or a Democrat… I’m an American and I love this country a lot more than any self-centered and corrupted political party. Aren’t you all American’s first? If not shouldn’t you be?

You morons never give up do you. Yes this is still Bushes fault, yes this is still the rethuglicans fault. You whinebags full of nothing but hot air. what is your solutions, slash taxes, oh but only for the rich?

Give it a year and those numbers will be in the 80s. The country will remember whose fault our economic collapse was, rethuglican fools. Your time is over, your party is weak and soon will die. Then, maybe, we can have a real conservative party sprout up from your ashes.

Democrats tax and spend
Rethuglicans borrow and spend

Which is worse.

Obama could drop a bomb on LA and the liberals would still cheer him on. They'd just blame Bush.

My prediction: Obama pulls a 'Honduras' on us and throws out the Constitution in favor of an Obama dictatorship. Then, in 50 years, when we're all living in squallor, you'll still hear him saying 'this is quite a mess i've inherited. But this 515th stimulus package should do the trick. don't listen to the naysayers...'

Does this mean that "our savior" is fallible? I thought the magic words of "hope and change" would cure all of all of our ills. What dupes...

Obama is socialist, a statist, and ultimately dangerous. Any government which can give you everything can also take everything from you. But then again, nobody studies history anymore. And no, I'm not a Bush supporter - far from it.

The honeymoon is ending... let the true colors show... No more rainbows and unicorns people. PowerCord and others are dead on...even pro-Obama Dems are questioning what he's doing. Warren Buffett's cache as a smart business man was used during the election to gain votes from people like me (which didn't work), but it'll be interesting to see now with him questioning Obama's plan how the dems spin this. Probaly with name calling and passing blame. Rome wasn't built in a day type stuff. Yet when (R's) are in office, they want to see answers now. What happen to Obama making this crisis a priority. Instead he's out talking about global warming...

Some recent quotes:
"Pay attention to the first thing on your platter and the nation's, Buffett and Brooks and Galston say: the financial crisis."

From his own guy!:
The answer Obama has given, in advance, is that we can only solve our economic problems by advancing these other programs. But the real answer came from White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in November: "Never let a serious crisis go to waste."

Priceless:
Or as Stuart Taylor, another moderate critic of the Obama budget, puts it, when your house is on fire, you don't water the lawn.

The Libs will find ways to blame past administrations like Mark Richards above. But he's making our point for us. Once he realizes he doesn't live in CA, he just might equate his argument to those who voted for Duval and repeatedly for the others in MA, probably like himself...and then complains about it.

In November, Pres. Obvama won the presidential election over John McCain approximately 53% to 46%... to me, that is an approval rating in a sense. According to this poll his approval rating was at 71% in February? And now it's 61%? I understand many polls are given to registered and non-registered voters, but to think his approval rating shot up to 71% from 53% in 4 months is giving too much credence to the poll, and shows that the people answering may not have even voted. That his approval rating dropped to 61% 4 months later shows a trend, but in no way should be interpreted that people are unhappy with him... maybe worried, but not opposed to everything he's doing.

He won't be able to blame problems on Bush much longer (if he is even able to do that now). Aside from the lemmings who think he is our lord and savior because the media brainwashing machine tells them so, regular folks won't be happy when they discover their 401ks and jobs weren't caused by George Bush and Barry isn't going to fix it with his mere presence.

Here we go again.: The Democrats inherit a huge deficit from
that "Bedtime for Bonzo" incompetent movie actor Reagan and turn
it into a big surplus only to have it turned into a new huge trillion dollar
deficit, a collapsing economy and unending trillion dollar war by that
can't speak english moron Bush, and the right wing Republican fascists now
are on Obama's case because he can't clean up the "I don't want to pay
any taxes or fight the wars we created" Republican fiasco in 6 months, and criticize him because his approval rating is "only" 61 percent. The
right wing Anti-American Republican party should start fighting their own
wars and start paying their own taxes to support the greatest country in the
world. I'll give Obama 4-8 years to clean up Bush-Cheney's mess.

I am still struggling to understand some people's logic. I keep reading Obama inherited a financial mess and it takes more than 6 months to fix a mess 8 years in the making. If I remember correctly, George Bush was blamed for the events of 9/11 after only being in office for 8 months. So I am wondering, in another two months can we start pointing the finger at Obama (who is in the process of looking at yet ANOTHER stimulus package) and the Dems or is it still George Bush's fault?
Here is a history lesson for you. George Bush's approval rating was at 55% at the end of July 2001. By October 2001 his approval rating was over 90%. By those calculations I expect Obama's approval rating to be over 157% by October.

1-20 -09
" THE START OF AN ERROR"
we cannot blame Bush anymore! This is what you get when you trust a politician's campaign promises! Obama is a empty suit, the war in Iraq is coming to an end . . . made possible by Bush's troop surge and Obama has to put more troops in Afgan. to help the growing resistance there. Why aren't people outraged over him escalting the war in Afgan.? If Bush did that, he would be called a war monger! Liberals are the most ignorant hypicrits ever. Big government has not and will not ever work!

C.B. The problem is we are dealing with petulant children who have no interest whatsoever in saving this country or its people. What we have are a bunch of windbags who would much rather talk about scary "libs" and bankrupt this country for the benefit of a few. It would be comical if it wasn't sad. most rational people realize that you can't turn around anything the size of the U.S. economy in 6 months, that any attempt to blame the current economic conditions on a president who's been in office 5 months is absurd. But none of these people want to look at reality, or work on solutions, because it's easier to throw around meaningless insults. What amazes me is if you go to far right websites, Obama is a socialist or communist, and now if you go to the far left sites, he's not progressive enough, and actually a moderate republican to those folks...Must mean he's on the right track...I wish someday we'd go back to being a results driven society and not one of Rush Limbaugh listening to idiots...Maybe then, I could reconsider Republicans to be a viable option.

What matters most is his approval among registered voters, not the general populace. P Diddy and MTV and pop culture tell all the morons how great Democrats and Obama are and they buy it. If his approval is falling in the general populace, it will be hurting even more among the educated -the actual voters.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 30% of the nation's voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-eight percent (38%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of –8. The President’s Approval Index rating has fallen thirty-six points since his inauguration!!!!

I think 56% is pretty high considering how many people he is stepping on to get America back on track.

You can look at a few big topics, like health care and energy, and see that he is doing the right thing by trying to fix them. Of course there are going to be plenty of idiots who can't see that these are good ideas.

Obama you better turn the hole lawn at the white house into a veggie garden, you're going to have a lot of people to feed.

I think that people are starting to get freaked out by his cap and trade and healthcare reform because of how it will make taxes for ALL Americans sky rocket. I mean, honestly, what kind of politician creates legislation that is guaranteed to drive up taxes and destroy more jobs than create especially in a recession like this. Either a really stupid one or one that has a shady agenda.

I think all Americans have a right to be concerned about Obama and his policies. It's time to stop focusing on what a great speaker he is and all the good intentions he has and focus on what exactly his policies will do to the American economy and how it will affect our standard of living.

The saddest part in all of this is that theres talk of ANOTHER stimulus. That is downright stupid on the democrats part. Less than 10% of the first has been spent and theres talk of another?Democrats are out of control,for years they blamed Bush for all and when they get power we get this?We need a president like Reagan that cleaned Carters mess.Does it make sense when your broke to spend more money?That is what Obama is doing right now and you libs seem to like to apoligize for him.Wallstreet does not like Obama and with good reason.They have taken over Insurances,Car companies,they want to take over the health industry and soon enough the oil industry.God help us all,i just hope everyone wakes up by the time the next elections come by.

we are opposed to almost everything he has proposed so far. He has never had a job, is inexperienced and has a group of advisers (like Pelosi) telling him what to do. He is a good teleprompter reader though.

Hey Mark Richards,I worked for Obama and I don't have any teeth.

"61%....wow, that is almost as bad as Mr. Bush's 26%. Plunging towards 60%, no doubt.

Posted by AguaCaliente July 9, 09 10:31 AM "

Don't worry sweetie, at the Pace O-Islama is going he will be down to 26% in less than 4 years.

Surly143 - You forgot one thing about 9/11. Bush was informed on August 6th that Bin Laden was going to attack the US.. With Airplanes. What did Bush do.. he went on vacation... So 9/11 was completely his fault. Done.

Topdog5281: Clinton balanced the budget? BUNK! Check the drawere marked IOU Social Security. We've been "in the red" for decades.

I am infuriated once again, that those responsible for paying their bills and working hard to get ahead, are being punished and made to pay more and more taxes under this Obama administration. Now, we're going to have to pay for everyone's healthcare and deal with an administration breathing down our throats telling us what to say and think! Wake up America!! Wake up all of you---the media who unfairly skew the coverage on this adminstration's real goals of sabbotaging what America really stands for liberty and the pursuit of happiness. No politician is going to save you from yourself! Get up and attend the tea parties and tell this administration what we really think!!

Come on people. Why are we looking at daily polls? The poll of all polls was taken last November 4th when the people spoke. There will be no truly accurate polling until the next general election.

Now, understand that Barack Obama is not a miracle worker. He's human just like the rest of us. So was George Bush, so was Clinton, so was Reagan, etc. Another thing working against the US is this recession is not just a US recession. It's global. The United States isn't the only country with problems. It's going to take a patient public and leaders willing to work together to pull out of this thing.

In response to Kevin 86...I would say the only person you could say was completely at fault was named Osama, come on now...

Can he handle massive crisis?
The larger and more complex a system, the more likely it is to break down. Something like a simple pendulum with few moving parts could last many years. But very large, complicated things like the Large Hadron Collider break down much more quickly.
America now has some 300 million people, 50 states, and more federal, state and local agencies than anyone can possibly list. It is hard to govern such a large, complex and populous system when anything goes seriously wrong.

And a lot is going wrong right now.

The U.S. military agrees that the chance of a break down in the system is real:
A new report from the U.S. Army War College discusses the use of American troops to quell civil unrest brought about by a worsening economic crisis.
The report from the War College’s Strategic Studies Institute warns that the U.S. military must prepare for a “violent, strategic dislocation inside the United States” that could be provoked by “unforeseen economic collapse” or “loss of functioning political and legal order.” [The report also warns of a possible "rapid dissolution of public order in all or significant parts of the US."]
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn warned last week of riots and unrest in US if the ongoing economic crisis is not addressed and lower-income households are beset with credit constraints and rising unemployment, the Phoenix Business Journal reported.
The Defense Department has made plans to deploy 25,000 troops nationwide by 2011 to help state and local officials respond to emergencies.
In other words, the government is predicting that systems will break down. But instead of doing anything to actually fix the underlying problems which are leading to the break down (like making sure that politicians follow the Constitution and making sure that America's manufacturing base is rebuilt, so that we can make something real, and our workers can make decent wages on a sustainable basis), the government is just planning on implementing police state measures to quell protests.

Regardless of ones political persuasion, never upon ever trust the so-called mainstream media. They are not independent, rational, unbiased, hard-hitting seekers of truth, accuracy, and completeness, but rather paid syncophants in bed with those who wish to subjugate our Nation. Think openly, independently with a healthy degree of skepticism bordering on cynicism. Take care.

Fed up, 87% of taxpayers thus far have received a tax cut under this president, so your point is false. but i wouldn't expect a tea party attendent to engage in honest practices, otherwise you may have been out doing somehting during the most fiscally irresponsible administration ever for 8 years..

Kevin, not as simple as that and being tough by uttering, "Done" but thanks for the effort.
Clinton ignored many signs during his own presidency - embassy bombings, World Trade Center bombing in 1993, the USS Cole, location of bin Laden and doing nothing about it, etc. Yes he ignored them.
I believe the current President will be vacationing on Martha's Vineyard next month during the biggest financial crisis in a generation.
I will be sure to wave to him.

Surly, at least try facts, they might make you not seem like a nitwit. Clinton caught the people responsible for WTC 1 and they are now in Supermax...Everytime he attempted to get more funding for couterterrorism, he got denied by a Republican congress, the votes are part of the congressional record. And I know some, Richard Clarke became this "lib" to some, but he managed to work in every Republican administration and get promoted, and his take is one I'd take over yours as to who was "ignoring" something...Kind of similar to what is happenning now in this country, instead of trying to work things out for the betterment of the country, we have one side who lobs insults, lies and anything else they an, instead of trying to pitch in to find what might work...

I come from a lower middle class family. I worked hard in high school, went to a state college. Got a decent paying job out of school. Took some prep classes and went back to school to get a couple of Master's degrees. My parents could not really help me out with the $, I got accepted to cheaper state schools but also to a highly ranked private program.

I chose to go to the better program (to better enhance my career options), but I had to take a lot of debt to get there.

Now I am done and I have a high paying job. My girlfriend and I's combined income puts us well above $100K. but student loans are going to hurt me a for a long while. And now I am going to have to pay higher taxes so that lazy, competent people who do not want to work, refuse to work?

I undertand I made choices, but these choices were to better my (and my family's) lot in life. Not people looking for freebies.

Where is my stimulus? Where is my relief?

BecauseI took on debt to get a better job, I will now have to pay more in taxes?

Where is the reward for ambition

"Surly143 - You forgot one thing about 9/11. Bush was informed on August 6th that Bin Laden was going to attack the US.. With Airplanes. What did Bush do.. he went on vacation... So 9/11 was completely his fault. Done. "

This is how simple it is for the uneducated out there...

Let's use the same logic shall we. Obama knew about the 'financial crisis' up to 8 months before he was elected. What did he do? When he got elected he pushed legislature to WASTE another THREE TRILLION DOLLARS. Is it really hard to see why his approval rating has sunk?

The first reason why Republicans are right is because the world invests in nations with the strongest Military. We can not lose sight of the advantage of being a superpower. If we were weak for sure, certain leaders would roll over us.

The second reason why Republicans are right is that we need to be able to produce goods and services here and stop hemmoraging money overseas. Republicans want to cut taxes on small businesses. Small businesses are led by hard working, industrious people, the people that we need to thrive so that we can COMPETE with other nations. Liberals forget who the performers are in a society, they pretend that money grows on trees and they actually have contempt for the actual workers who make us competitive. We can not survive as a consumer society, we need to build and we need to empower those that are constructive members of society. Liberals vilify Joe the Plumber, a person who works hard and has dreams of building a business. Liberals don't push people to work harder or be responsible or help us be more competitive, they offer handouts, excuses, scapegoats and they dillute our constitution, they make us weaker. Liberals are weak all the way through. Liberals are good writers though, perhaps they've realized that writing a good memo can keep you from avoiding work?

Liberals make fun of Joe the Plumber because he is the epitome of a fraud...Let's start with his name not really being Joe, or the fact that he was a tax deliquint, or the fact he wasn't a liscensed plumber, to the fact that he had no way of buying the business he was talking about buying, to the fact that the owner of the business came no where close to making 250K....And that's why we make fun of you, too, John, because you're a fraud

Independents need not read.

Just because someone thinks Obama should be hung from the closest tree for treason doesn't mean he/she thinks ALL the republican presidents are great. There are some people on here that have no clue, and neither of the parties want you to have a clue. If you want to know what the goal of the democrats is, just go to wiki and look up progressive politcics and do some research. And even if you aren't religious, compare your research with what is in the Bible and you'll find it very interesting, or maybe scarey. These are the folks that convince the "I can't think for myself" mothers that having a chip implanted in your child will be awesome for medical reasons and standardizing ALL the state education standards would be good. And they will take care of you and provide for you, so no need to stay married, it's OK. We have you covered. It's ALL ABOUT CONTROL. As for me, I'm a white, hetersexual, male veteran that chased russian subs loaded with nuclear weapons just of the east coast of the US back during the cold war, so I'll probably be the first to go the gas chambers built with TARP $ my tax dollars (about $40,000/year) helped pay for. It's a shame I'm not a Latino female, I'd have it made!!! 5-4 ruling for the fire fighters, why not 9-0? Someday, that ruling will be 0-9, mark my word.

Joe Bob is a fraud... that's why I make fun of him...

Mark Richards where did you go to school, because you should get your money back. Presidents don't just snap their fingers and 'implement economic and environmental policies'....they are voted on by the House and Senate....which you and rest of the 'buffoons' out there voted into office. Let's not forget the wonderful years we had with Clinton - who is the one, along with House/Senate who passed and enforced more lenient lending laws to minorities and others who couldn't afford to buy property. The sooner everyone realizes we aren't all equal, handouts don't improve anything and you actually need to work for things you want - the better off we'll all be.

Hey Joe Bob:

I forgot something else, if you liberals were so mad at Joe the Plumber for being a "tax cheat", where was the OUTRAGE about the tax cheat TIMOTHY GEITHNER?

By the way, having a couple of plumbing crews going isn't a pipe dream. Like most liberals you have to put people down, Liberals try to beat people down and make them feel small, they try to make everyone think that you have to come from an Ivy League School or otherwise you're useless.

As far as the Globe, as far as the "We've got Action!", that is political activism not reporting. Some of the Globe writers are so conceited and lazy that they don't dig deep and become subject matter experts, their stylistic expression is enough for them, they don't have to get their hands dirty.

The point about Joe the Plumber isn't Joe the Plumber, it is the fact that Obama said "We've got to Spread the Wealth". Attacking Joe the Plumber was the Press's attempt to divert the attention away from Obama's socialistic statement. It was a tell sign of what we're now seeing.

I am absolutely disgusted. Anyone who is wishing that Obama's policies fail is a masochistic jerk. Hate Obama - that is fine, but do you realize that its you and your neighbors that will suffer if his policies don't help turn the economy around? Now is NOT the time to be blaming conservatives or blaming liberals. It is the time to drop the labelling and name calling and DO SOMETHING! Contrary to opinion - one man/one party did NOT cause everyone's problems. By the same token - one man/one party cannot be expected to fix them all. I am all for limiting government and increasing personal freedom so long as it applies to everyone - not just the religious right, or the super wealthy, or the over-eeducated. It amazes me that the same people who preach individual liberties are often the same people who picket abortion clinics and vote for same-sex marriage bans. Hypocrisy at its best.

John, you deluded little fool. Anyone who has half a brain knew what Obama meant. A good government is a government that allows as many people as possible to succeed through their hard work, not one that keeps the wealth concentrated amongst the few, as the government student loan program most used to go from poorer to richer have used. the point is who Joe was, he was claiming outrageous and false BS to prove a BS point, and you bought it because you are a mindless sheep. I put people down who lie and cheta their way to noteriety, it was a pipe dream for someone to claim he was going to buy a business, when he wasn't licensed in said business, had no money ,adn was in debt to the point he didn't pay his taxes. Last time I checked, Geithner found a mistake on his form, he fixed it and paid it...not really much to be outraged about. Do you not believe that it is in the best interests of this country to provide people willing to work hard the opportunity to participate in the wealth pie, because that was the reponse Joe got, regardless of how you silly idealogues tried to twist it?

Hah Joe Bob: I got you flustered because you know you're wrong. You're still talking about Joe the Plumber.

As far as the Student Loan Program, all that did was make college tuitions skyrocket. Google home ownership rates and look at how the Community Reinvestment Act, the socialistic policy that started during Carter and got ammended by Clinton sowed the seeds for the current crisis. When the government stuck their noses into college tuitions, they just made more money available for colleges to hike their tuitions. Then, colleges made families tap into their home equity so everyone had to refinance to send their kids to college. Now what would have happned if the mean old Republicans had their way? What would have happened is that capitalism would have worked, colleges would eventually have raised their tuitions to a point where only the rich could afford to attend and then colleges would have to decide what their reputation was worth and if it was worth it to them to provide the opportunity to a broader base and therefore LOWER their tuition. We never let the brakes work in capitalism because the liberals continue to create money through debt and leverage.

As far as the rich getting richer. Well if you've got 3rd world skills living in a 1st world nation, you should be grateful because if you lived in a 3rd world country you wouldn't have those mean old rich people to pay for your kids schools, your police officers, fire fighters etc. Yes, that is right, the bottom 50% pay 3% of the cost of government. Instead of being thankful, Obama tells them to resent those that feed them. Further, the reason why the rich are getting richer is because of GLOBALIZATION. The guy from Detroit who is stamping out bumpers and wants to have season tickets to the Lions and drive an Escalade wants to benchmark his salary against the Jones instead of the Wongs who eat rice and drive their bike to work. That is their competition and all the fellow Americans rich AND poor who ran out with their stimulus checks to buy flat screens from China are complicit. Don't blame the rich for us being a bloated consumer nation that doesn't want to work and produce anything. The rich have assets and they can invest in the emerging nations, the poor have to compete with the emerging nations so that is why the rich got richer, it was globalizaton not George W. Bush. Now Obama is making it harder to be competitive here in the US because he is adding this stupid Cap and Trade. The basis of Obama's positions is that the rich are evil and we should treat them like a host and all the deadbeats can climb on like a bunch of parasites and eat it until the hard working Americans are dead. Then like all socialists throughout history like the NAZI's, they will find another host to attack. Peaceloving people are self providers, they don't believe that others owe them anything, they go out and provide for themselves. Obama tells the deadbeats that the rich need to feed them instead of instilling the industrious values that will help them help themselves. Liberals keep people down by making them dependent on them. Obama is so poisoned with vanity he makes promises that he can't keep and the sheep who believe him are wasting their time and he should be honest with them and tell them to get off their arses and work as hard as they can because nobody owes anybody a free lunch.\

I can assure you I am not a whatever you said....deluded fool,,, I am an accomplished professional and have an MBA.

Obama is not only an economic idiot - he is a closet Islamic Muslim sympathetic to Islamic fascists throughout the world. Look at his waffling policy on Iran, his appeasement of Islamic backwardness in the Arab world. He is an Islamist pretending to be a democrat. I voted for him, but now i regret my vote like hell. Even Sarha Palin looks better in comparison.

You lib morons are still drinking from the same well. Both parties can be held to blame in this mess. You love to blame Bush, but you can't tie him to this. What about Barney Frank, and his insistence that you must loan money to anyone who asks (regardless of their income, job status, or citizenship)? That's the core of this mess. An oh, Clinton? The great economy that we inherited from him? A total lie based on the tech company fabrications and fraud. And don't forget 9/11 -- we can thank Clinton and democrats for that also. Good luck trying to blame Republicans for this mess...

Run to the nearest fallout shelter now! It's only going to get worse under B.O. and if this economy keeps going down, well we could have a lost decade. Ron Paul!

No problem. I will blame Bush forever and ever for the sad state of America. For 8 years his team successfully destroyed our economy. How can you say it didn't happen on his watch? Even your idol Rush can't change written history, try as he might. Bush had a mid twenties aproval at the end, and, 20% of those were loyal republicans. Not much to flap your flag about. Not happy? I guess the only solution is to give the rich guys another tax cut. Stand up,be accountable, live that republican mantra, it did happen on the Bush watch.

Obama, the most inexprienced president in history doesn't have a clue how to fix this mess. He only knows how to make it worse and couldn't make it any worse if he tried. I didn't like either choice for President, but we are in trouble and have no leader and a bunch of 'spending' Democrats and a spending President with no one to stop them. We will soon be bankrupt and these people could care less.

No one is adding up all Obama's actions if they think he knows what he is doing. How many times has he flip-flopped? He is cobbling together bit and pieces of supporters he has to pay back for getting him elected. Biden told the truth about how they missed on the economy. They had access to all the info. Oh, wait, we have green shoots. Do we? They are not spending the Stimulus money so they can create a mini-bubble just before elections, yes, it is a re-election fund they are holding onto. My question is this, WHAT ELSE TO THEY HAVE WRONG? Three or four people are writing bills and no one is reading them. At the end of the day the Dems will take ALL the blame when this blows up. the next bubble to burst is the Government Bubble! It will be the last.

I think it is hard to hold Obama accountable for a recovery in just six months. My criticism of him is the medicine he's administering. He has basically let us pay our monthly bills on a credit card versus force us to make tough decisions and cut government spending. The "jobs" he claims to have saved are government jobs in just bailout money that helps States balance their Budgets. I've looked at the numbers of employees hired in the past decade in some of these States and it is outrageous. The more and more and more useless regulations, red tape and beaucracy that goverments create, the more patronage jobs they can offer to their friends, and the harder it is for the private sector to be competitive. Public projects that have Unions cost 30-40% more in labor premiums and delays. Look at the cost overruns in public schools, the Big Dig, etc. The government in Massachusetts have let the Unions trample us in the past decades and they've milked us dry. Massachusetts has the highest debt per capita of any State. Unions have made it almost impossible for manufacturing in our State. Unions have destroyed the automotive industry in the US. Instead of making ourselves more competitive, Obama empowered those that make us less competitive.

As a traveling sales person i cover a lot of states i can tell you his real poll numbers are closer to 25 to 30 percent approval ratings and falling.

Even now you Bush bashers can't stop? what a joke you'all are! You slam the last 8 years but I never see any reasoned effort to explain why. I could write a novel on the things I think BO is doing wrong and why.

Yes, I hope BO epically fails. I think his policies scream of a type of government many Americans died fighting against. This type of so-called "prosperity" without freedom is simply another form of slavery.

I'm waaaaaaaay worse off since the libs too Congress than I was in the years before that.

It is entirely possible joe Biden will quit VP within 18 months and run for President
of United States, because of lack of chemistry.

It is absolutely amazing how uninformed mosst of the people are on this site. People talking about TARP creating "green jobs".

It is no wonder this fool got elected. First and foremost, TARP was passed under GWB. It was for toxic asset relief. It was supposed to be used for banks to prop up their capital until they could get a handle on things. It was for 750 billion dollars. Bush allocated about half of that and a little extra to the car companies. he left the rest of the funds for Obama to do what he saw fit. Most of these banks including JP morgan, and AMEX,went to pay the money back to the government that they borrowed. They wanted to pay it back in Fenruary. The Obama admministration refused to accept the fundws in return. The reason, because Obama wanted to maintain government control over them. Finally, they are beginning to let some pay it back.

The supposed "green jobs" were supposed to come from the Stimulus Bill that was so essential to our existence. This was passed and signed under Obama....remember the big "show. Well, only 18% of this money went to actual infrastructure projects. The rest is being distributed to "community groups" suchas Acorn. And the rest is being used to balance state budgets and to extend unmployment, and to expand food stamps....and whatever other giveaway programs there are.

So please at least understand the difference between TARP and The stimulus bill before spouting this all out....

At least the auto industry is booming - not
At least the housing industry is booming - not
At least the financial services sector is booming - not
At least the stock market is booming - not
At least unemployment is low - not
At least GDP is rising – not
At least North Korea is under control – not
At least consumer confidence is up - not
At least our relations with Russia and China are improving – not
At least the government isn’t being run by a bunch of partisans - not
At least the deficit is dropping – not
At least the “phony” war on terror is over - not
At least the situation in the middle east is resolved - not
At least government has spending under control – not
At least we’ll get everything candidate Obama promised - not
At least the press is presenting the effectiveness of our President accurately – not
At least those stupid enough to vote for him finally see the light - not

Yep, Obozzo was the right man for the job alright- not!!!!!!

As it turns out, Obama is nothing more than another tax and spend liberal. The fact that he looks good, is intelligent and gives fine speeches doesn't hide his total inexperience and ineptness. He also lies just like most politicians. Bush's last term was a disaster and put America on the slippery slope to ruin. He set Obama up to win in a backlash win to steer us into big government control of just about every aspect of our lives. Bush caused me to become an Independent. If we don't wake up and and at least take back control of Congress in the 2010 elections the country is going to be totally screwed for decades. If he gets amnesty passed Obama and the Democrats are sure to pick-up 12-20 million + grateful votes.

be

Since, I don't live in New York or California, I've know it for some time now! The leftist media just can't hide it anymore?? Will be interesting to see how they blame his falling numbers on Bush

I am so tired of hearing "the last 8 years" as the only answer/excuse some with selective memories can give for the talk no concrete action Obama is showing.
1. Each President inherits the last 8 years (no Clinton's "great" dot.com economy had already started crashing in 2000. Ben Laden finalized his network & palns under Clinton's watch)
2. As the dot.com economy was crashing we were attacked in our economic heart. Total implosion was avoided by swift and decisive action - remember?
3. Subprimes were always the vote getting terain of Democrats.
4. Americans lost all sense of reality living off credit cards and house values then wanting to believe "yes we can" would somehow make things right - painlessly.

The last administration kept us safe. It looks like more Americans are waking up to the nice sounding words our inspirational speaker in chief campaigned on. (or rather his speech writer)

Obama should help Americans get jobs instead of trying to save the world. He is the American President and should take of Problems in America. One way to open up a lot of jobs - Cancel the Guest Worker Visas like H1b and L1. Stop the importation of Cheap Foreign Labor. Americans are being displace by these guest workers. Wake Up America.

i for one did not vote for either obama or mccain they are the worst 2 cannidates that has ever been put up for america to vote for president period.

And to pay for his "stimulus," Obama has closed two anti missle-missle sights in Alaska and defunded our missle defense research system! All this when North Korea is getting the capablity to hit us and sharing that technology with Iran. This is utter madness! Our scientists were getting close to a 90% kill ratio of incoming nukes and Obama cuts the funding.
Let me see the Obama lovers blame this on Bush!!!!

right. left. look... politics is show biz kids. left and right mean zero, its are you working for wall street, or trying to defend the people against monopoly men.
Big money institutions have been pulling the strings of politicians for many years, most people know it, the rest are clueless, careless, or bought and paid for.

right. left. look... politics is show biz kids. left and right mean zero, its are you working for wall street, or trying to defend the people against monopoly men.
Big money institutions have been pulling the strings of politicians for many years, most people know it, the rest are clueless, careless, or bought and paid for.

This administration is trying hard to fix the economy, but they're experimenting with our money; when a $1.8 Trillion deficit isn't enough to fix it, they want to "double down" -- with our money. Partisan Democrats will still try to blame this on the Bush Administration, but they are wasting their time. The polls show that the American people now see this as the Obama economy.
Last July, Senator Obama's numbers were going down. The economy lagged, and his numbers went up. Twelve months later, his numbers are going down, and if the economy lags, his numbers will go down even more.
Welcome to politics!
summer. Welcome to politics!

~"heynow98...you forget that the economic crisis crisis crisis crisis was inherited inherited inherited inherited from the Republicans! This is not going to be an easy job for the new president"~ You script-liddies need a new party line. the Repubs had scarce control for a very limited time. This admininstrated destruction of every foudation of this country is PURE LEFT, and every bit of saving grace is PURE RIGHT such as a stabilizing Iraq which the lefty Congress tried to sabotage every step of the way. Theres no way to wriggle out of this, libiots. Frank & Pelosi, etc CAUSED the bubble inflation AND collapse. Now theyre reinflating it for another collapse. The guy is a golden boxcutter cheered on by all our enemies and all 'our' useful libiots.

Lol, wow...all these conservatives trying to paint Obama as some anti-American, anti-capitalistic socialist while it was THEIR party who got us in this mess. Not to mention a poorly managed war that they embarked on based on untrue claims about WMD's in Iraq which left us with MOUNDS of DEBT as well. If it's anyone who has the best mind and best ideas that will help this country, it's Obama. Six months is never enough time to judge an economy. But hypocrisy from the right makes me laugh all night while I catch O'Reilly or Hannity on FOX, the most unbalanced and unfair news org. on tv. When it was their party that helped ruin us...Reagan ain't coming back, and his policies aren't relavant over 20 years later.

Anytime I hear a Republican whining about our gov't I just tell em, "Look, you had your 8 years, and it was one big FAIL!"

The crisis started in 1977 under the Carter Administration with the creation of the Community Reinvestment act. With a series of acts, the Clinton administration plunged Fanny & Freddie into sub-prime mortgages. In 2003 Bush proposed an agency to oversee Fannie & Freddy, Barney Frank said Fannie & Freddy are fine & a good investment, people bought stock on his word & lost money on their invetment. Barney Frank's boyfriend at that time was assistant director of Fannie.
Social engineering brought on this crisis because, we have to be "compassionate" & "everyone deserves a house."
'

The people who voted for Obama are a bunch of shiftless LAZY bums who want government to be their mommy doing everything for them. Gov. buy me a house. Gov. buy me a car. Gov. take me to the doctor's office and pay all my bills. Gov. wipe my nose. BTW government, send the tax bill to those morons who get up and go to work everyday because they are evil and possibly rich. Yeah! More government will solve everything. Don't depend on yourself. Sit back and wait for some gov. bureaucrat to knock on your door. Go out and vote for some cheap politician promising easy answers, soak the rich schemes and more Gov. PROGRAMS. Freedom's not important, I just got me some food stamps today!

Are there any promises Obama has kept? Gitmo- no Iraq- no Afghanistan- Hell no
Don't believe the false dicotomy, people- The republican party and the democrat party are different in name only. They all work for the same forigegn interests. The elections are stolen if they can not be paid for. Our foreign policies are dictated to us by Isreal- The government moves on its own not according to what people want. Obamas financial interests are supposed to be in a blind trust so tell me why is it that his investments are in the companies that are developing this new flu shot. And why the push for mandatory vaccination when this flu is less deadly than other flus? Please do your research, people, and just google swine flu vaccination 1976- thats right 1976- the shot killed more people than the flu and left ten thousand people disabled...

I'm thinking the president spoke 'stupidly' as to the Boston PD's action as he didn't have all the facts! That is a HUGE mistake on his part. He lost points with me. This has nothing to do with him being a scapegoat for Bush. This has to do with someone who is coined a good speaker making a bad decision on the fly.

I voted for him and now I wish it was over. I think he is spending way to much and is forcing us on government run healthcare. Mistake for sure.

The sad thing is this is not a mistake, everything that he has done is well planned. They just didn't count on the American people waking up so soon.
I am fearful that they will stage another false flag operation like 9/11 or worst to try to bring up his numbers.
We live in dangerous times.

President Bush had to deal with a Democratic Congress. Seventeen times he spoke to Congress about the impending financial mess and they did NOTHING. Barney Franks, Waxmen etc. are largely to blame for this mess--not Pres. Bush.