WSJ/NBC Poll: Obama Approval Hits All-Time Low

by JASmius

Yes, my friends, it must be a slow news morning, for the first time in, like, forever, because the best headline I can find is a meaningless poll of "adults" that purports to indicate three things: Americans hate Obama, they hate congressional Democrats, they hate congressional Republicans most of all, but they want Republicans to control both Houses of Congress.  Which is to say, Americans don't know what in the blue hell they want:

President Barack Obama's approval rating has plunged to an all-time low, as 79% of respondents to an Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll said they were dissatisfied with him and the American political system. [emphasis added]

Stop the tape.  Note that addendum.  The public is dissatisfied with Barack Obama; good, they should be.  But that would have been a useful result two years ago, when there was still at least a theoretical chance of removing him from power.  Now?  Who cares?  Whether or not he leaves office on his feet or six feet under (at a ripe old age, just in case the Secret Service is monitoring this), he'll never face the voters again.  His approval numbers are irrelevant; he no longer needs the "consent of the governed."  He's got the full power of Articles I and III along with II to wield as he pleases.  Sure, his colossal ego would like to be worshipped as in the good ol' days of 2008, but now he can use his power to compel public adulation.  And he'll do it, too.

Meanwhile, the public is even more disenchanted with "the American political system".  That would seem to be a reference to the constitutional federal republic the Founders bequeathed us, which has, in reality, been gutted by Barack Obama's usurpatious power grabs.  But the public, disgruntledly ignorant, doesn't know that.  They just know that everything sucks; the economy is in a permanent depression, the world is going to hell, our borders are gone, we stand on the edge of a global pandemic, threats against America are multiplying.  And while they're blaming Barack Obama (a positive) and the GOP (an absurdity, given how heavily outnumbered Republicans still are), they're blaming our system of government even more.  And that fits precisely into Barack Obama's "fundamentally transformative" master plan.

The Wall Street Journal/NBCCCP survey didn't ask what alternative system respondents would prefer, probably because U.S. "adults" can't figure out what to have for breakfast without taking off their shoes, much less ponder the dynamics and intricacies of political science.  But one can assume with utmost confidence that The One has some long-formulated thoughts in that regard.  And the political soil looks like it's becoming more and more receptive to the planting of some very tyrannical seeds.

Not to get all Godwinn on your heinies, but the historical parallel that jumps out at me is the post-World War I Weimar Republic, which proved less than durable and up to the challenge of the economic privations inflicted by the Treaty of Versailles (huge reparations to the French and Brits, leading to the 1923 hyperinflation) and, later, the onset of the (first) Great Depression.  The German people, "dissatisfied with the German political system" and its petty "bickering" and "corruption" and inability to "get things done," and historically more accustomed to authoritarian (i.e. "efficient") government, leaped at the chance to follow the first skilled, charismatic demagogue to come along overpromising utopia.  And you know who I'm talking about.

If that template sounds discomfortingly familiar from our own recent history, congratulations, you're vastly more intelligent than "U.S. adults," who appear ready to throw out what's left of constitutional government (and that ain't much) for its "ineffectiveness" in "getting things done" in favor of empowering a "savior" to "do the will of the people" and "save the country" from all its problems.  And since they already did that five and a half years ago, and doubtless don't want to be called racists for refusing to bow down to him anymore now, I suspect that "U.S. adults" will be more than willing to resign themselves to re-donning their knee pads and rolling out their prayer rugs again.  Because they won't be given a choice.

Think I'm being too hard on them?  Guess again:

That pain has translated into strong feelings among the 1,000 adults polled that their children will not have a better life that they do, that the country is on the wrong track, that America is in a state of decline, that the country is still in recession — and that the nation's economy is not stronger because of unprecedented partisan gridlock in Washington. [emphasis added]

Note the implication of that belief: That the nation's economy could be "fixed" if only the government could get out of its own way and "do something".  Never mind the details of what and when and how; just "do something".  Never mind that it was the Democrats who sabotaged the economy via the real estate bubble and spreading that contagion throughout the financial sector (i.e. the Panic of 2008, or the "Democrat Financial Logic Bomb") to bilk the electorate into giving them unchecked power.  Never mind that breaking "gridlock" and turning over the country to Barack Obama and the Democrats and their hard-left policy blitzkrieg of 2009-2010 that culminated in ObamaCare; entrenched depressionary policies that guaranteed the economy would not recover.  Never mind that "unprecedented partisan gridlock" is what the voters voted for in the last two elections.  And never mind that there is, in reality, no "partisan gridlock" whatsoever because Barack Obama pre-empted it with his pen and phone three and a half years ago.  The truth is that America being on the "wrong track" is entirely his doing, for which Republicans are being made to disproportionately share the blame.  When the ones who should be sharing the blame are the 62 million assclowns who re-elected this lazy, lying, effeminate, perfidious yIntagh in the first place.

And believe me, folks, I am not exaggerating their vacuity:

"I don't think they're working for the middle class," one respondent, Evan Coley, 22, of Albermarle, N.C., told the Journal. He works in an auto-repair shop. "They're trying to help themselves more than anyone else."

Strictly speaking, Evan, they're supposed to work for ALL of us, not just "the middle class".  And, not to break out my Romney debate impersonation, but I have to say, I don't know what you're talking about by "trying to help themselves".  Harry (G)Reid laundering campaign cash through his granddaughter's business accounts?  Yeah, I can see that one.  Getting re-elected?  That's part of their job.

Al McCauley, 51, of Greenboro, N.C., who is unemployed, said: "Both sides need to get their act together. They're not working with each other."

Well, Al, I'm your age, and I'm unemployed, and I appear to understand something about our form of government that you do not: They're not supposed to "work with each other."  You know why?  Because they disagree on what needs to "get done".  And since you and your fellow respondents shat upon Republicans (19/54) more than Democrats (31/46), you seem to be saying that Republicans should forfeit their principles and policy priorities and give the Democrats everything they want.  Which is not what they were elected to do, because we saw how disastrously turning everything over to the Dems turned out the last time "we" made that horrific mistake.  And if you happen to think that Democrats should compromise with Republicans, you're going to be waiting a long time for that to happen - like, forever - and that suggests, logically, that you should vote to turn the government entirely over to the GOP.  Which you detest by twenty points more than you do the Donks.

In short, it is you, Al, who need to get your act together, because you're suffering from a level of political bipolarity that is doubtless causing you to drool uncontrollably.

57% of the survey respondents said that they were so bothered by an issue that they'd easily carry a protest sign for at least one day.

Here are some of the signs:

• "Impeach Obama," a female Republican from Ohio said.

Okay.  But you're going to need to elect a helluva lot more Republicans in the Senate to make that a meaningful gesture.

• "Republicans and Congress, do your job," said a male Democrat from Kentucky.

Republicans AND Congress?  What the hell does that mean?  And what do you imagine "Republicans'" job to be?  Like that question isn't excruciatingly rhetorical.

• "Close the borders," added a GOP-leaning female from Massachusetts.

Amen, sister.  But....there is a "GOP-leaning female" in Massachusetts?  Must have been part of that 5,000-strong Boston redneck rally last week.

• "Stop bombing people in Ukraine and Gaza and Israel," said a male Democrat from Texas.

I'll let Ron White take this one....



I'd love to know which U.S. political party is making tactical military decisions for Vladimir Putin, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Islamic Fundamentalist terror networks, and how that, in any remotely logical, comprehensible sense, squares with the notion of "unprecedented partisan gridlock".  Sounds almost....politically bipolar to me.

And, lastly and leastly....

• "Our government needs an overhaul," a female independent from Florida said.

A "fundamentally transformative" one?  'cause if that's what you think, you should be the most contented "U.S. adult" of all.