Obama gets soaring marks in the new USA TODAY Poll
By John Amato Wednesday Dec 03, 2008 3:00pmIn the first poll that I've seen since Obama won the presidency and started putting his cabinet together, USA TODAY's poll says Americans are very, very satisfied with what he's done so far.
President-elect Barack Obama gets soaring marks for his handling of the transition and his choices for the Cabinet, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, even at a time the public is downbeat over the economy.'
More than three of four Americans, including a majority of Republicans, approve of the job Obama has done so far — broad-based support he'll need as he faces tough decisions ahead.By 69%-25%, those surveyed approve of his pick of New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, his former Democratic primary rival, as secretary of State.
No matter how one feels about his cabinet choices, I believe Americans are quite relieved to have a man at the helm, responding like a true leader and making decisive decisions in a time of real economic crisis.
And they also feel as I do that a major stimulus package is needed to help kick start the economy.
In the poll, Americans by more than 3-1 say they trust Obama more than Bush to handle the economy. By 58%-33%, they support Obama's plan for a huge spending package to spur economic growth.
Also Obama's team made a statement that is very reassuring about the Employee Free Choice Act.
Asked if Obama's support for the Employee Free Choice Act remained as strong as his public proclamations suggested on the campaign trail, transition spokesman Dan Pfeiffer responded, succinctly, "Yes."
As Digby says:
With the kind of support Obama's got going in, EFCA is something that's both achievable and necessary. Despite the hysterical commentary from the right these days, the fact is that unions strengthen the economy not weaken it.
And when liberal bloggers talk, the press listens...
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this really just reflects how poor of a prez W has been.
Alright, American people! Nice to see that despite the MSM's efforts to tear Obama down before he's even officially started.
When Obama shows his true colors this all will change.. Mark my words.
Save the Constitution or this is all for not!
... is certainly a step in the right direction as far as saving the Constitution and a host of other matters, too.
Obama looks pretty good so far, except for not answering some questions the other day.
Here is my wish list for Obama...
1. Charge, indict, arrest, detain, try, convict, and imprison Bush, Cheney and all those involved in the lies that led to the Iraq War.
2. Use the US navy to sink all whaling vessels.
3. Bring ALL of our armed forces home (those not sinking whaling vessels) and cut the Defense budget by 70%.
4. Give nothing to Detroit automakers, nada. Give $10 billion to the silicon valley start up automakers.
5. Give Pissed Off Patricia the Medal of Freedom
6. Legalize pot.
7. Make the internal combustion engine virtually illegal after 2020.
8. Force Microsoft send all of us with Vista a free copy of XP and $200 for pain and suffering.
9. Help pass legislation that utterly changes the way campaigns and elections are financed and managed. We vote on Sunday, it's mandatory, and no one can give more than $10 dollars and no soft money at all. All political ads are illegal except for 2 weeks before the election.
10. Make February 2nd, National John Amato Day!!!
I'll vote for all.
Sorry March 11th for JA Day!!
I definitely am with you on 1, 3, 4, 6, and 9. While we're are at it make April 20th National Peace Day.
I would be more with you on 8, but I kinda like Vista. I haven't had problems with it yet, and I've been using it for almost 3 years. *Hides head in shame*
Or is it that silly pot smokers have now the monopoly on peace? :-)
Also, Vista has been out for about 1.5 yrs. So either you have a nifty time rift on your house, or the vista calendar functions aint working so good JK
Depends, did you take the last Twinkie?
Why not just outsource this job to the Somali pirates. We would save a bundle of money, they would make a bundle and the whales would be safe(r).
I'll second that one.
We should trust the judgment of people who figure they're not qualified or capable of or interested in voting.
Why confined voting to a single day? Why not election week.
Make the campaign too short and the flaws and contradictions of the candidates may not be apparent.
Just make JA an honorary ground hog and he'll automatically be celebrated on February 2nd.
Dammit, there's ANOTHER thing that's wrong with Obama's neo-fascist cabinet! He has yet to appoint one single WHALE to a key position! Bastard. How is appointing a 100% HUMAN cabinet "change?"
All I can say is, he'd damned well better appoint a whale as either ambassador to Japan, or ambassador to Norway!
... at a joke :-)
If by epic you mean something like Melville's Moby Dick, I'll take that as a compliment. :)
Maybe he'll appoint a whale to head up the NOAA.
February 2nd is already Imbolg
And Groundhog day.
If John Amato sees his shadow there's six more weeks of winter
And if he doesn't see his shadow, he's a vampire?
Obama will own everything -- Iraq, the economy, Afghanistan, etc.
His advisers look like the people who got us into this mess.
He's not said anything transformative.
Looks to me, more of the same.
are you on?
Don't just project your wishes onto him.
The are many shades of gray. If you have read other comments I have made on Obama maybe you could act the part of a psychiatrist or psychologist and infer I am projecting.
But, I am not a fatalist! He has been true to his word about center rule. Who really knows what that means in a reactionary country. And reactionaries are on the left as well as right. You get my drift.
The World is not Black and White
Funny, that's not what the sarah palin supporters thought.
Maybe Obama could have the Army Corps of Engineers reroute the Potomac through the Capitol to wash the place out. After all, the Corps does have recent experience flooding cities.
What state would a "left reactionary" in this country seek to return to?
You'd do better to go to the Oxford English Dictionary for your definitions. Really, even a Webster's would be better than Wikipedia. And, no, computers haven't made dictionaries obsolete.
That could easily be rephrased:
Don't just project your maledictions onto him.
I think you're confusing Barak Obama with somebody else. It's Bill Bennett who has the part time job as a drive-in movie projection screen when he's not gambling, or writing sanctimonious drivel for The National Review.
but to continue the meme that people are, or should be, happy with Obama's cabinet is a distortion of reality or a joke.
I don't care what the polls say. Most people couldn't name a single member of the cabinet, including Clinton, but, more revealing, I read today that his cabinet does not have a single anti-war voice or pro-worker voice.
in terms of what he does abroad, Obama's going to look a lot like Bush.
Domestically, he'll look different, but the substance won't be there.
I thought nobody was to have an opinion of him UNTIL he actually is sworn in and does something. Soooooo....
I thought they were all living in your basement with you.
tsk tsk tsk!
Sounds like you got some prostate problems there tyree.
LOL...touche! But if posters are not allowed to say anything negative about him until he is sworn in and does something, how can he be praised for doing nothing?
living in my basement except me.
But out on the deck, a bunch of birds, chipmunks, and squirrels come to the feeders.
live in my basement. That's the basic livingroom in my house. Speaking of squirrels and nuts, anyone interested in taking Bush Lite (Harper)off our hands up here if we throw in a Socialist, a non english speaking Liberal, and a Separatist leader? Now those guys are truly nuts!
What are you doing? Having a "damaged goods" sale on all the politicians who've slept with Belinda Stronach? So then, why are you leaving Peter McKay so conspicuously absent? Hrm...
McKay? Haven't heard anything about him in awhile. Thought he already moved south.
Condi Rice has him tied up in the basement of the State Department, wearing pink panties and a Winnie the Poo T-shirt. You'll never see him again, believe me.
That gives a person the creeps. Because, anyone that has watched McKay in action, can actually picture that image! Barf. Must now wash brain out with soap.
condi's filling in for the Washington Madam?
Has the shoes for it....LOL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OU7Nezg7Ls
Condiment RiceARoni ain't no Nancy Sinatra....although....her boots were made for visiting!!
That song warped me for life.
And that's just frugging great, while Obama is getting soaring marks in newspapers, I'm getting hash-marks in my BVD's.
Pericles might be reaching you.
Now THAT is funny.
As for myself, there are no basements in Texas:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYfjq3ZYZbA
You're more than welcome to express an opinion about whatever kind of neo-fascist, pseudo-nazi, Clinton-redux, Bush-esque, corporate shill, civil liberties-destroying, baby-killing PUPPY that he's bound to pick out for his kids.
Based on his track record, I'll guarantee it's going to be one of the following.
a) Some corporate sell-out Dalmation, so that he can name it "Checkers," and tell sob stories about it to cover his own personal corruption, like Nixon did.
b) Some dopey, big eared Beagle, so that he can pick it up by the ears and swing it around his head like a cave man with a club, as a symbol of his foreign policy hegemony, the way LBJ used to.
c) An Irish Setter like Clinton had, so that he can put up a facade of blue-collar-loving, worker-friendly rhetoric on the outside while signing fascist free-trade agreements behind closed doors.
d) A f-king Barney-like TERRIER to prove just how Bush-like he REALLY is!
You really do live in someone's basement don't you. Do they know you are down there?
I live in the sewers. So, don't mess with me or I'll shove a rabbit rat up your toilet pipe while you're reading FIELD AND STREAM.
Been wondering where that smell was coming from.
OMG you're him!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqr9blyD8nA
Just as long as I get to bunk with Linda Hamilton, I don't mind sleeping in sh!t, you know?
I always thought Alf was more realistic
But without the weed it ain't the same.
Not in terms of what he says, but
Wed, 12/03/2008 - 16:06 — They all suck
in terms of what he does abroad, Obama's going to look a lot like Bush.
That's what got Bubba in trouble
What he did abroad.
Perhaps Beccera?
When asked, more Americans will say they're 'moderate conservatives,' than liberals, because the conservative movement has done such an amazing hatchet job on the word liberal. (A majority of Americans will also classify themselves as being "more patriotic than most people." Mathematically impossible. Again, proving what an amazingly good job the conservative movement has done of engineering public perception.) However, the facts speak for themselves.
"By 58%-33%, they support Obama's plan for a huge spending package to spur economic growth."
Conservative dogma dictates that government spending is NEVER a good thing, and that increased government spending will not spur economic growth. By two-to-one, Americans are again backing the liberal position, proving that, manufactured perceptions and flawed self-evaluations aside, America is NOT a center-right nation.
(Yeah, I know, I know...the American center-left is still the far right of the political spectrum to the rest of the world. My point is not that the U.S. is center-left relative to other countries. Just that it's center-left compared to how the right wing noise machine is trying to portray it.)
Well I still think Obama needs more left handed, Latin speaking Ukranian albino drag-queens who are Atheists For Jesus on his cabinet!!!
He already appointed Paul Volker, so stop complaining.
And doesn't he look fetching.
Obama should appoint William Ayers to the Supreme Court.
Bush or Paulson speak- Markets tank.
Obama or news about Obama- Markets rise.
Bush talks for five minutes about the markets, they go down and down, and everyone remembers how we got in this s****y mess.
Mr. Obama speaks, they go up, and they realise how we're going to get out of it.
Janeane's biggest request for the new President...
Increase the budget of the National Endowment of the Arts to one billion dollars.
Piece o'cake.
The move against the big three is more symbolic than anything. The Feds (Dim & Puke, alike) are trying to kill off the UAW.
This they will get as the "price" for their bailout.
No WAY they're gonna pass ECFA while they're right on the brink iof killing off one of the last industrial unions extant.
Remember those post-2004 polls showing that the only political body with lower public ratings than Bush was Congress? And remember how progressives said the low ratings were because the newly Democrat-led Congress hadn't made moves to end the Iraq war? That wasn't the only reason for the low ratings; it may not even have been the main reason. A big part of Congress's low public ratings was the result of the opinions of the ca 50% of people in this country who consider themselves right-wingers ("conservatives" wrongly called) and who listen to right-wing TV and radio programs that were endlessly demonizing the Democrats in Congress simply for being Democrats. The rest of the disapproval might have come from disappointed progressives, but I'm not sure they accounted for the bulk of it.
It's similar with this poll on Obama's performance so far. The right-wingers like that he's filled positions with people on the right side of the Democratic party and with some actual militaristic Republicans. Democrats give him high marks simply because he's a Democrat, the first African-American president, and because of the bizarre admonition not to judge him until he's inaugurated - just think positive and it'll all turn out great! Why, he'll probably still be the kind of guy you'd wanna have a beer with in a few months, so let's all just smile. Never mind that you can already see the direction he's going with his cabinet choices (and it ain't pretty).
So the high approval ratings aren't necessarily a good thing. It's never a good thing when right-wingers are pleased.
I understand boosh is making one last short comedy video for the next White House Correspondent Dinner.
He'll be in the Offal Office looking for the lost economy under knick-knacks, brick-a-bats, give Barney a bone.
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