Post 6 - Due Nov 1
Since this summer the news has been buzzing with the leaks from Edward Snowden and the revelations that the NSA has been gathering more data than the public had previously realized. Next trimester we'll be examining the 4th Amendment so this post isn't focusing on the Constitutional privacy debate but rather the issue of presidential credibility. The Obama administration has hard a tough month between Syria, the Congressional shutdown, the website problems with Obamacare and more NSA leaks. President Obama is one year into his 2nd term and will soon become a "lame duck".
For this post assess where the Obama administration is at. Does Obama have the popularity (with the US public, the US' allies, &/or with Congress) or support to get more of his agenda accomplished and if so what should he be focusing on and why? If Obama does not have enough popularity to get much done, what should he do to try to regain support? What's your advice for the president?
Your post is due on Friday, November 1st. This is your 2nd to the last post for the trimester.
PS. Happy Halloween!
Labels: political capital, popularity, president
posted by maby-keirstead @ 12:13 PM
43 Comments:
No matter what Obama does, he will never be able to make everyone happy. In fact, there are people in the United States that make a point of opposing every little thing that he tries to do simply because they are of a different political party. I can only hope that most Americans will realize that while he holds a position of power, he cannot control everything that goes on. It would be crazy to state that he is the cause of issues like Syria, the Congressional shutdown, and more NSA leaks. While I feel that the American people still support him for the most part, I don’t think that he has the support of the U.S.’ allies or Congress. From the beginning of his presidency, he has faced a Senate controlled by the Democrats and a House controlled by the Republicans (3). Even with just one house of Congress being of the opposite party, it makes it that much more difficult to rally support for certain policies in Congress. I think that Obama has actually helped the United States’ position with other countries, but unfortunately, I believe that the recent reports stating that Obama may have known about the NSA wiretapping while it was happening will cause new hostilities among other countries with the U.S (1). Regardless, I still think that Obama has enough support stemming from the American people that will allow him to continue to work at getting more of his agenda accomplished. I think he should focus on issues that are important to the American people, and issues that the public are not likely to change their opinions on. Supposedly, the top four priorities for the public since 2012 have been the economy, jobs, health care, and education (2). As these are things that directly affect the public, people are most likely not going to change their stands on these issues because of some recent headlines at the governmental level. If it does turn out that Obama does not have enough popularity to get much done, I think that he could clear up some of the current issues in order to regain support. By being honest about whether or not he knew about the NRA wiretapping, discussing the Congressional shutdown, and coming to a final conclusion about Syria, it is likely that he could regain some of the support that he lost. My advice for Obama is to focus on issues that matter most to the American people, and try to reestablish the trust that those who no longer support him once had. Additionally, I think it’s essential for Obama to realize that he’ll never be able to make everyone satisfied. There are going to be people that oppose his policies no matter what. It’s part of being the leader of a nation.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/29/politics/obamacare-nsa/
http://www.people-press.org/2012/09/24/for-voters-its-still-the-economy/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/112th_United_States_Congress
President Obama is currently a dying car battery: he needs a jump start or he risks becoming useless. Various scandals and situations have harmed his reputation over the past 6 months, forcing him to take a strictly defensive position. If he has any hope of making progress over the next 3 years he needs to move to the offensive while also refocusing his efforts, at least temporarily, on issues he knows he can win. The revelations about the scope, capabilities and actions of the NSA have tested his national security position. However, simply stating he knew nothing of the activities makes him seem out of touch with his own department (2). Going on the offensive, he should shake up the leadership of the NSA while simultaneously launching a bipartisan audit of all NSA activities. The audit committee should consist of some of the most senior members of Congress and have a slight Republican majority to prevent any conspiracy theories from surfacing. One of Obama’s options down the road is to order a complete rewrite of NSA procedures and bring in all past intelligence chiefs to do so. The situation in Syria has dealt a blow to the confidence in Obama’s foreign relations skills. Moving so erratically from a pro-military stance to a strictly diplomatic one (the questionably beneficial deal with Russia) made him seem incapable of working with other countries in ways that benefit the US (3). Again going on the offensive he should regularly show the skills of the ambassadors he has put in place by highlighting their everyday tasks that better the world in his press releases. He should also sign as many executive agreements as possible and move outside his “circle of friends,” meaning stop communicating with only G20 leaders. There are 193 members of the United Nations, all with something to offer. Now, moving on to healthcare reform, the issue that has plagued his presidency. The recent reports of major glitches with the healthcare website have brought the entire law into question (again). Simply stating that “I’m mad too” isn’t going to magically restore faith in the controversial law (3). Obama needs to personally sign up at least 200 people. In an underprivileged part of the country, and at some sort of community center, he should sit down with average citizens and help them sign up. He’ll of course need to make sure no glitches occur while he is using this system, but the publicity stunt should garner him some brownie points (2). If he does this on a regular basis, maybe once a week for the next month, he’ll be able to shut down a lot of criticism. Finally, the issue at the heart of all issues: gridlock in Congress. The blame game has many contestants, but no winner. This means that his attempts to play it are wasted (3). He needs only to do one thing to emerge the champion in the battles in Congress: introduce as many easy bills as possible. How to find these future bills? Hire a bunch of people. Obama should set up a special program which allows unemployed citizens to work as letter readers. The readers would sift through the large amount of mail that Congress and the White House receives and record all of the ideas that the American public has. Anyone arguing against a program that puts people back to working literally trying to solve the nations problems would look like a giant jerk and would be easily silenced because of lack of support. Looking at the ideas recorded, Obama should pick the “cute babies and puppies ideas” - the ideas that everyone loves. These eventual bills would be impossible for any member of Congress to turn down because it would damage their reputation too much. Ultimately, right now Obama is edging close to lame duck status. His support is dwindling and his progress is minimal (3). Only once he takes the offensive can he hope to move “forward.”
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/10/30/obama-boston-health-care-speech-mitt-romney/3314927/
http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/28/politics/white-house-stopped-wiretaps/
3) http://swampland.time.com/2013/10/30/obamas-approval-rate-at-all-time-low/
Barack Obama is struggling trying to get his agenda passed. His approval rating is currently hovering around 43% [1]. This means that the majority of Americans do not support the President. It has also recently come to light that the United States has been spying on some of its closest allies. The backlash he has received has caused he to reevaluate the program [2]. Finally, with a split Congress it will be hard to get support. The majority of his agenda will not pass in the House. Currently he is in a very tough spot. I am sure it seems to him that he is getting shut down from all angles. I think that he needs to focus on issues that are considered safe and will be supported by Republicans. These issues may include school safety, civil rights, and other issues that the majority of the public would support him on. Since there is the lack of support, he needs to move slowly and not be controversial. He needs to clear up the NSA mess first of all. A multitude of polls have showed a general lack of support for the spying and distrust of the government rising [3]. He most likely does not want to get rid of these programs, however if he should make the American public thinks steps are being done to weaken the NSA and its spying. Also, he should continue to encourage legislation that is moderate but he knows the Republican led House won't support. This may help him regain a majority in the 2014 mid-terms if he can convince the American public that he is doing all that he can. Overall, I would advise him to go on a little public relations and image campaign. He really needs to get back to the image of being the guy that won him the election twice if he wants to receive broad support from the American people. Many Americans seems to currently feel that he has become just another politician and that he has not delivered on many of his campaign promises.
[1] http://www.gallup.com/poll/116479/barack-obama-presidential-job-approval.aspx
[2] http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/10/29/obama-national-security-agency-angela-merkel/3294411/
[3] http://www.policymic.com/articles/53767/nsa-surveillance-scandal-the-polls-are-in-and-nsa-spying-is-really-really-unpopular
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I believe the Obama administration means well but their trying to do to much at one time. For anybody in any part of the government stretching yourself this thin over so many major problems is impossible, because the Obama administration chooses to do this it makes it harder to pass or create any new policy for the country. I also believe the Obama administration is quickly burning bridges with other countries. Recently German Chancellor Angela Merkel had to contact the white house about phone taps done on her phone by the NSA. According a BBC article the NSA thinks its crucial for the U.S to know intentions and information about foreign leaders, but what it comes across as is the U.S jumping into everyones business ally or enemy alike (1). The Obama administration is also stretching itself over far to many topics; They have to deal with Syria, Edward Snowden, the government shutdown, Obamacare implementation, and resistance from the republican party, along with the recent accusations of spying on foreign leaders. According to NBC Obamas approval rating is at 42 percent which isn’t horrible, but over half of America disapproves of the president with over 50 percent saying they disapprove of the presidents actions (2). Obama is already really close to becoming a lame duck as nothing is getting done under his administration in Washington. What Obama has to do to get his approval ratings back up is he must let go of some issues and focus his time in energy into getting one thing done at a time. There is to many things the president is focused on, and he can’t focus on one thing. If he handles things one at a time there’s better chance for progress, and once things start getting done the approval ratings will sky rocket. Fortunately for Obama the opposition (Republican Party) approval rating is lower than his at 53 percent; this means anything no matter if it’s one beg step or a bunch of baby ones it should be easy for the Obama administration to get back in the good graces of the American people. According to a poll by Gallup.com president Obama had a 50 percent approval rating by the American people (3). My advice for Obama would be focus on a few important issues and grind out resolutions to get things done and make progress; the american people do like you but not enough getting done.
1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24729628
2. http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/30/21252250-nbcwsj-poll-obama-approval-sinks-to-new-low?lite
3. http://www.gallup.com/poll/116479/barack-obama-presidential-job-approval.aspx
Obama is quickly losing popularity and his lame duck period seems to be coming on early. Not many seem to be on his side anymore. First, the public approval rating has fallen to a low 42% (4). 51% disapprove of his performance; this is an all time high (4). Clearly, the majority of the public are not pleased with him at the moment. This could be due to several things like the recent NSA spying allegations, the Syrian conflict, the government shutdown, and the healthcare website problems (4). Obama has not had any major wins lately; in fact he has mainly been losing. Nothing seems to be working out for him like the way he has wanted it to. Second, American allies are not happy with Obama. Recently it has been revealed that the NSA was spying on our allies, like Germany (2). Many of these allies have responded that the US has broken their trust (2). Finally, Congress does not seem to be on Obama’s side. The Senate just recently blocked Obama’s nominations for a powerful federal court and a housing regulatory agency (1). They did not end up voting to go to war with Syria like the president encouraged. When Obama didn’t want to compromise on healthcare, the Democrats in the end had to make some concessions because the Republicans would not back down and the government shut down. Congress has not been giving Obama anything. Overall he has not gotten many wins in the past few months. He has even fall behind Putin to number two in Forbes list of the world’s most powerful (3). He never has not been at the top during his presidency, except for in 2010 (3). While he has only fallen behind by one spot, it still speaks volumes of where his administration has been going, it has been going down the tubes. Obama has to start trying to climb out of this lame duck period that is setting in prematurely. My advice for him is to go after popular, non-controversial issues to get some wins under his belt. They do not need to be major wins right now. He needs to rebuild his image and clear up his recent fallbacks so that everyone can put them behind them. Only then he can gain back those who have supported him in the past.
(1) http://www.mycenturylink.com/news/read/category/Top%20News/article/ap-senators_clash_over_obama_judge_and_hous-ap
(2) http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/nsa-spying-shows-how-to-lose-friends-and-alienate-allies/2013/10/29/0d0c2928-40cf-11e3-a624-41d661b0bb78_story.html
(3) http://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2013/10/30/obama-putin-forbes-most-powerful-people-in-the-world/3315093/
(4) http://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2013/10/31/obama-approval-ratings-nbc-news-wall-street-journal-poll/3322859/
So Obama has taken a hit to his popularity. Many polls point out that his is at an all time low at 42% approval rating (1). While this is true it is also good to point out that everyone else in government isn’t looking so well either: everyone is taking a hit after the government shutdown earlier this October (3). Now the big issue is the Healthcare website’s many glitches and issues. I think that every new technology or website has glitches in the beginning, even new iphones take a couple weeks before all the bugs are rooted out and fixed. Many people agree with me too: polls show that most Americans’ opinion of the Healthcare law remains unchanged despite the glitches (2). Either way, there is way too much stuff in the press right now about how the Healthcare website isn’t working. They seem to be linking the Healthcare law’s downfalls with the infamous government shutdown and none of it is making the government look in any way helpful. That is why I give President Obama this advice: kiss some babies. Right now the press should be starved for a story and be talking about the President’s dog dressed as a superhero for Halloween or his upcoming plans for Thanksgiving. The president needs some positive press and fast. The popularity of Republicans has taken a major blow from the government shutdown and if Obama slow down all the media attention on the shortcomings of the Healthcare website, he may be able to accomplish things before the end of his term. If he can make himself look like the human being in the mist of politicians, he can convince the country to move as he sees fit.
Throughout his first term and into his second term, Obama has done many things to gain world wide attention. He has spearheaded many movements in his terms such as the war in Syria, gay rights, healthcare, and a huge economic stimulus (3). These accomplishments have been praised by some and harshly disapproved by others. I think he is beginning to understand that he will soon be a "sitting duck" in office while the new campaign begins, which is why he has been packing so much of his agenda into a short span of time instead of taking public polls to see how the people were feeling about his goals. Overall, the approval rating for Obama has lessened over the years (1 & 2). During his first term Obama had some very impressive accomplishments, such as ending the war in Iraq, eliminating Bin Laden, repealing "Don't Ask Don't Tell," and established many beneficial foreign relations (3). Not as many people like what he is doing this term, especially with the rumored NSA wiretapping along with the recent government shutdown. It has not plummeted so much that he is at risk for impeachment, but his ratings have dropped from about an overall 65% to about 50% (5). This proves that he might not have the support of both Congress and the people to continue his political agenda. I believe one of the main events that caused his current record was his push for the troops in Syria. Although he had the best intentions in mind, there was a ridiculously low approval for our troops to be sent there. For now, I believe Obama needs to take a small break from pushing his agenda through and work on his public approval, kissing babies and everything. The more the public understands that he does have their best interests in mind, the easier it will be for him to pass more of his presidential goals while he is still in office and before he officially becomes a "sitting duck."
1) politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll
2) http://www.gallup.com/poll/116479/barack-obama-presidential-job-approval.aspx
3) http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/march_april_2012/features/obamas_top_50_accomplishments035755.php?page=all
4) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_approval_rating
5) http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/
In the last couple moths, the Obama administration has taken a hit. All the issues have lead to his approval rating dropping to its current value of about 43%, about 10% below the average president (1). This means that less than half of our nation is happy with him. If Americans are not in his favor, its going to be quite difficult for him to get his agenda across. I am concerned that if Obama is unable to regain some approval, he will become a lame duck. I think the way he handled certain scandals attributed to his drop in approval. When the NSA spying of close allies came to light, he merely said that he was unaware of it occurring until recently (2). This is a very shallow excuse that can come of as shifty and possibly false. While I don’t think Obama would lie to the entire country about something that big, I do think there are better excuses than just not knowing. The excuse also makes him seem weak if he didn’t actually know because it sounds as if he has no control over the departments. The issues of the Obamacare website are also harmful (2). If something isn’t quick, easy, and painless, you can be sure that people will complain about it. I do however think that it is unfair of Americans to blame Obama for website failures. Its not his fault that there are bugs in the site, but I also agree that there maybe should’ve been more testing before its launch. One thing we need to look at is past trends in approval during second terms. Looking back to when Truman was president, there have been few instances where a president has had a better approval rating in the second term (3). Reagan appears to be one of the only presidents to have a higher second term approval (3). My advice to Obama would be to look back on how previous presidents raised their approval. Looking back on Reagan’s second term, he seemed to work harder to appease the people at home rather than on foreign issues (4). I’m not saying that Obama should create large tax cuts like Reagan because we already have too much debt currently. However, Obama should now really try to focus on listening to what Americans want, even if that means going against his party. If he was to have to agree with Americans on an issue not favored by his party, he may actually have an easier time passing it seeing as our Congress is currently split on majority control. If Congress wants to appeal to the citizens, they may too vote the same way Obama does. For right now, I think all Obama can do is try to appeal to Americans in whatever ways he can.
1. http://www.gallup.com/poll/116479/barack-obama-presidential-job-approval.aspx
2. http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/29/politics/obamacare-nsa/
3. http://www.gallup.com/poll/116677/presidential-approval-ratings-gallup-historical-statistics-trends.aspx
4. http://www.polyconomics.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1232:reagans-second-term&catid=32:essays
The most recent Gallup poll shows that Obama’s approval rating among US citizens is at a term low of 43% (1). In addition the U.S. is not currently in the greatest of relations with foreign allies due to allegations that the U.S. tapped the phones of high level foreign leaders (2). Congress is also at odds with the president as the House has a Republican majority and the Senate has a Democratic majority the result of which has been a difficulty in keeping the government open. Unfortunately for Obama he is just not very popular right now, of course Congress is also not doing well in the polls with an 11% approval rating (1). Even with low levels of approval and support existing mostly in the Senate, I believe Obama could still accomplish more of his agenda. He still has the ability to bring attention back to other issues such as immigration reform, increased renewable energy (parts of the original agenda (3)), etc, but until he refocuses on something that can be compromised on he will continue his decent to lame duck status. The main thing required for the president and Congress to regain public approval is they need to accomplish something, rather than just pass a budget, reopen the government, and implement national healthcare which had already been approved (all of which should have been simple proceedings without much debate).
1.http://www.gallup.com
2.http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/28/politics/white-house-stopped-wiretaps/
3.http://change.gov/agenda/
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Currently, President Obama does not have popularity with the US public, US allies, or with Congress. He has hit his all time low of an approval rating of 42% (1). This approval rating shows that the public is dissatisfied with the president. The Congress is dissatisfied with Obama also as the Senate has held nominations that the president made for judicial appointments and other nominations (5). Recent events that have occurred like the NSA issue, the Obamacare website issues, Syria and government shutdown, all have made an impact on his popularity and the administration (1). The US foreign affairs are strained now because of the NSA spying on world leaders and the issue with Syria. The actions of the NSA has strained the US relationship with Germany and other countries as they were surprised to find that an allied country like the US would go as far as spying on private communications that have no strategic justification (4). In this case Obama should focus more on civil liberties and to clean up the NSA mess as people are aware how extensive surveillance has been (3). He needs to provide answers and show that the government is responding to the concerns of the NSA practices (4). This would help Obama to regain some popularity among the public and gain back some trust. Obama also must be more clear on his proposals. Many people see that Obama has failed to take care of the issue in Syria (2). They saw the actions taken against Syria as incoherent and inconsistent, as there was a plan to conduct a strike against Syria and before it was abandoned (2). The president needs to explain his actions and to give clearer explanations of his plans and policies he would like to see go through that way the people can have a better understanding of what is going on. On the issue of the Obamacare website having difficulties, Obama needs to have someone to check on the website to make sure that it is working properly. Obamacare was seen as an accomplishment, but the website issue has brought question to its confidence. There was a lack of action taken to fix the website to get it running correctly. If Obama has someone checking on the website, it would lessen the criticisms on the healthcare and show the public that there are actions taken to fix it (2). In general I think Obama needs to take one issue at a time instead of trying to fix too many issues all at once. Four out of five Americans have little or no trust in their government to do anything right (4). By taking one issue at a time he can slowly regain back some of his popularity and support by showing that he is taking care of these issues with more caution. Obama’s image has deteriorated from the way the domestic and foreign policy was mishandled, and he needs to recreate his image to gain more support (2). He needs to recreate his image as the candidate who won two elections. Taking actions against issues more cautiously and recreating his image will help him regain some popularity with the public and Congress to get more of his agenda accomplished.
1. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/30/obama-approval-poll_n_4179530.html
2.http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/richard-cohen-a-question-of-competence/2013/10/28/10539e20-3ffa-11e3-a624-41d661b0bb78_story.html
4.http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/29/opinion/rothkopf-obama-spying/index.html?iid=article_sidebar
5.http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/28/opinion/zelizer-obama-nsa-world/index.html?hpt=po_r1
6.http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/29/politics/white-house-under-fire/index.html
Recently Obama’s image has certainly suffered. Presidential job approval ratings have fallen to 43% in the last few weeks, down 6% from his term average of 49%, which is discouraging news for the Obama administration (3). The NSA scandal, the Affordable Healthcare Act website’s failure, and struggles with Syria have all negatively impacted the public’s view of the government as a whole and more specifically, the president. The NSA scandal and reports of spying on leaders of friendly nations have been especially damaging to the Obama administration domestically and internationally. It has not been established whether or not the president knew that the NSA was collecting such information, but either way, pleading ignorance will not do much to save face (1). If Obama truly didn’t know that this was going on, it reflects badly not only on his advisors, who failed to share this vital information, but also on the president (1). It paints a picture for the public of a detached president that does not have control over his administration. The complete failure of the online health care sign-up system has also been problematic for the president. Kathleen Sebelius took responsibility for the website’s shortcomings; however, that entire situation has led to only negative media coverage of Obama’s signature piece of legislation, further hurting his image (4). I don’t think there is a very good chance that Obama will be able to accomplish much more on his agenda unless he does some damage control very quickly. The American public trusts the government less than before as a result of recent events, and the United States’ image worldwide has suffered as well. It would probably be best for President Obama to take a step back, make some very convincing speeches, and accept some responsibility for some of these events. Some critics are arguing that he has not been showing strong leadership lately and taking part of the blame would hopefully pacify some upset Americans. A lot of baby kissing is also probably in order. He needs good media coverage, and he needs it fast to remind everyone that he is known for being an especially poised, charismatic leader. Without that sort of action, I think his lame duck period will come on much faster. As far as what he should push from the rest of his agenda, he should probably avoid especially controversial subjects like immigration reform and the farm bill, which happen to be at the top of his list, for the time being (5). He doesn’t have enough Congressional support right now or time before budget trouble starts up again in February to unite people under his policies, and pushing for more sweeping reform after so much disagreement in the government would just be more frustrating for everyone. Instead it might be more efficient to focus on issues that the public consistently view as most important, like further improving the health care system and education, that he knows he could be successful with (2).
1 http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/29/politics/obamacare-nsa/
2 http://www.people-press.org/2012/09/24/for-voters-its-still-the-economy/
3 http://www.gallup.com/poll/116479/barack-obama-presidential-job-approval.aspx
4 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/sebelius-apologizes-obamacare-website-fiasco-article-1.1502261
5 http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303680404579141472200495820
At this point in Obama's presidency he has very little support to do the things he wishes to do. He is increasingly becoming a lame duck. Many things have led up to this point. Numerous scandals
loom over the white house, with the Obama administration providing insufficient information about them. People are becoming more and more skeptical. A few would include the fast and furious scandal, misinformation on what happened the night of the Benghazi attack, the IRS illegally taxing people of one political ideology, and the NSA spying on citizens and allies (2). It is hard for a corrupt administration to have support, and these scandals have greatly hurt his credibility and image. Another factor hurting his popularity is his failure of a plan called The Affordable Health Care Act. The plan had little approval to start with, and it is now at 42% (3). The website malfunctions as of late have not helped the situation one bit. On top of all this, Obama's attempts to strike Syria have not been supported and have greatly damaged his reputation further. Taking into account all of these factors, his approval rating hit an all-time low recently of just 42%, while giving him a disapproval rating of 51%(1). He has very little support with anyone right now, including his own party. Some Democrats want Obamacare to be delayed even still, and many are struggling to advocate it (4). As stated previously, the NSA has been caught spying on some close allies of the U.S, and this hurts greatly hurts our relationships with them. On top of diminishing support from both allies and his own party, Congress is only going to offer hostility to him. It is very hard to argue for the case that Obama still has support. However, I do believe that there are things he can do to reclaim some support and improve his image. The thing he can do is to be a leader. In all of his scandals, he claims about knowing nothing about any of them, and denies being associated with them. Obama either needs to step up and take responsibility for these actions, or severely punish those in charge of the scandals. He can't just keep playing innocent and claiming that he doesn't know what's going on; that is just being soft. He only talks and talks about how he is dissapointed that these scandals are taking place. Well Mr. President if you really want to show you're dissapointed, do something about it. Take action, fire those responsible, be a leader! Taking responsibility for his actions and those he is in charge of will show he is a leader, both to the American people and to the allies in which the NSA has wronged. He could also try taking a more moderate approach to some policies. That way it will show that he is trying to implement new agendas, and will put some blame on Republicans of they refuse to negotiate. Another thing he can do is "get back to the basics," or in other words, get back to doing what won him his first election. If Obama continues to be irresponsible and cowardly, he will soon be a lame duck, but it is not too late.
Works Cited
1.http://www.ijreview.com/2013/10/91070-shock-poll-obamas-disapproval-goes-50-mark-first-time-ever/
2.http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/category/obama-administration-scandals
3.http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/obama_and_democrats_health_care_plan-1130.html
4.http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303615304579155962427302786
It doesn’t look like Obama is getting the popularity or the support he needs for his agenda. His popularity is at an all-time low, at 51% disapproval (1). This just feels kind of sad, to me. Here we have a man, who has a plan, but he does not have a friendly congress. Republicans just blocked 2 more of his nominees, because they didn’t want him to have any more (3). It definitely feels like he is trying to get things done, but they just aren’t happening. Now, I’m not sure how good the administration would be if Obama had a cooperative congress, but I’m pretty sure things would be smoother, and his popularity would go up. It, frankly, seems kind of grim at the moment, what with all these things going on. I also do not believe I have experienced enough presidencies to compare just how Obama is doing. But still, with what little I do know, it doesn’t seem very good. He has no congress, not much popularity, and things just seem to go wrong. Like the Healthcare website. It has issues, is inaccessible, so his ratings sink. However, he is doing something to fix it, and if that’s successful, than his ratings should rise (2). My advice to the president is, well, wait and see. The shutdown is smacking the republicans something fierce, so come next congress election, the congress may be a little more friendly, the republicans a little more helpful, and the whole deal a little more workable. Right now, it’s a bit of a hope moment.
(1) http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/obama-approval-rating-poll-99135.html
(2)http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/10/25/heres-the-obama-administrations-plan-to-fix-healthcare-gov/
(3)http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/01/us/politics/senate-republicans-block-2-obama-nominees.html?src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Fpolitics%2Findex.jsonp
Recently, President Obama has suffered in the public opinion polls, with an all-time low rate of 42% according to NBC/ Wall Street (1). This is due in part to the NSA scandal, and Obama’s lack of success in trying to convince Congress to go into Syria. The Huffington Post recently posted an article that stated, “It is breathtaking, disheartening, and demoralizing to witness the Obama presidency self-destruct. Through a series of missteps and miscalculations it has reached the point where there are no good outcomes for Obama's presidency.” (2). Oh snap. You know that Obama’s really in trouble if the Huffington Post uses the words “self-destruct” and “Obama presidency” in the same sentence. However, Huffington isn’t as negative as Fox News, who declared that Obama was a lame duck back in April (3). So now that we have established that Obama is, in fact, in danger of becoming a lame duck, I believe there are some steps he can take to continue to be at least a little bit productive until the next election. Obama should work with the Republicans in Congress, who are also trying to look better in the public eye after the government shutdown. The republicans will be more likely to compromise on smaller, less controversial issues. Obama should focus on these issues and understand he isn’t going to get anything major passed for the remainder of his stay in the White House.
(1) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/30/obama-approval-poll_n_4179530.html
(2) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/miles-mogulescu/the-selfdestruction-of-th_b_3894847.html
(3) http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/04/22/is-obama-already-lame-duck/
I do not believe that Obama currently has the popularity to get more of his agenda accomplished. As of right now, his approval rating is around 43% (1). Only 30% of the population believes he cares significantly about their needs and problems, which has steadily declined since his first term (1). If Obama wants to improve this figure, he needs to be more open with the population. For example, people are very upset that Obama either didn’t know or didn’t inform the public about the NSA spying (2). Obama needs to show that he is willing to be honest with the public. One way for him to do that would be to give a speech about the current problems in the country and how he plans to address them. To increase his overall popularity, I believe Obama should work to address the interests of the American people. He needs to be seen working to fix issues that people are concerned about. For example, many people were upset by the government shutdown. Although Obama was working to stop the shutdown from happening, many people still see him as having blame (3). For Obama to try and solve this issue, he should publicize his administration working tirelessly to fix the damage caused by the shutdown. Obama should also avoid courses of action that are unpopular. For example, he should stay away from issues like Syria that had very little public support. If he sees that the public is mostly against a course of action, he should not propose it. I think if he does this, he can regain support and complete more items on his agenda. Although this may mean going against what he believes is the best decision, this sacrifice will prove beneficial if he regains support and is then able to put several items on his agenda forward. The American population clearly wants him as president, which is why they voted him into office twice. If Obama gives them something to work with, he should see his approval rating increase.
1. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/26/us/politics/obamas-approval-rating-matches-two-year-low-poll-shows.html?_r=0
2. http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/29/politics/obamacare-nsa/
3. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/15/federal-government_n_4102263.html
I think Obama has had a pretty rough last 6 months. With the issues like Syria, the Congressional shutdown, and the website problems with Obamacare over this time period, Obama hasn’t been high on people’s popularity list. To make matters worse, President Barack Obama knew of NSA’s spying on German Chancellor Angela Merkel – and approved of the efforts (1). Because of these series of events, I think that Congress and especially the US allies have lost popularity points. In addition, I think that Obama is starting to grow unpopular among the American people, too. The president's approval rating has hit a low of 42% in the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, down 5 percentage points from earlier in October (2). This shows that less and less people believe in him to get the job done. I think that Obama should focus on just our country’s issues and not concern ourselves with other countries problems for a time. A lot has been happening in our country recently and I think Obama would find the most success in fixing the issues that presently stand before him in his own country. I understand that he has a divided House (Republicans) and Senate (Democrats) which makes it hard for anyone to agree on anything (3). However, my advice to the president is to stop going on the defensive and start being more offensive. As of late, he’s been trying to patch up that have troubled him over the last 6 months, but I think he’ll find the best results and find more popularity if he faces the issues head on instead of backing away from them. All in all, I understand that Obama can’t please everyone, being that the country in divided into some Republicans, some Democrats, and some Independents, but he needs to change his tactics or his popularity rating will keep going down.
(1) http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/10/27/obama-knew-nsa-spying-on-merkel-and-approved-it-report-says-944692234/
(2) http://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2013/10/31/obama-approval-ratings-nbc-news-wall-street-journal-poll/3322859/
(3) http://www.wzzm13.com/news/article/269518/2/Congress-divided-on-staff-furloughs-salary-during-shutdown
I believe that the Obama administration has hit a rough patch when it comes to popularity and job performance. He is at a 41% approval rate according to a Gallop poll with 51% of the nation disapproving of the job he is doing so far, and it is not hard to see why- you have the troubles with the healthcare website, the government shutdown, the NSA controversy, and the Syrian conflict (1). Although some of these things could not have been predicted, the ones that were could have been handled differently. It is because of this that I think the Obama administration has some work to do to reestablish their popularity and trust with the nation. One way they can rebuild this connection with the nation is through the success of Obama's healthcare reform. There are thousands of people who are benefitting from the Affordable Care Act, showing the problems stem from the website, not the act itself (2). By improving the website and making it easier to sign up for the plans, Obama will be able to gain some credibility from the people- he will have made healthcare easy and affordable, just like he said he would. Another way that Obama can regain some popularity with the people and with Congress is to pass legislation that is popular with the public. By doing this, he is showing Congress that he is willing to cooperate with them, as well as showing the public that he is still being productive and serving their interests. When people believe that their interests and needs are being addressed, they may start to view Obama in a more positive light. Lastly, in regard to foreign relations, the best thing for Obama to do to improve support is to interact with the rest of the world on a purely economic level, leaving the rest of the world to their own business, only interfering when absolutely necessary. With the Syria conflict and then the NSA controversies, the world does not view the US in the best light (3). By backing off a little, it would let other nations get over their grudges without stepping on their toes again. So I guess that would be my advice to the president- to quickly fix the problems with his healthcare website, to pass laws and bills that are popular with the people and Congress, and step into the background when dealing with foreign issues unless absolutely necessary. Let things settle down a little before stirring up the pot again.
(1) http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/10/31/obamas-poll-numbers-fall-but-hes-not-alone/
(2) http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/10/21/239122565/obama-health-care-site-is-troubled-affordable-care-act-is-not
(3) http://www.columbiatribune.com/opinion/columnists/obama-foreign-policy-in-shambles/article_6a427b2a-10d1-11e3-8186-10604b9f6eda.html
Clearly, the Obama administration is seriously lacking American support. Obama’s approval rating has sunk to a low of 42% (1). However, many overlook the public’s lack of support for the government as a whole, not only Obama. The public’s view of the Republican party has reached an all-time low of 53% viewing the GOP negatively (1). Also, 74% believe that congress is contributing to problems in Washington rather than solving them (1). Ultimately, there is a general lack of distrust for America’s government as a whole. Because Obama is the leader of this government, he has been under attack for such issues as problems associated with Obamacare, leaks of NSA spying incidents, and the Benghazi scandal (2). With such controversies leading to Republican attacks on the Obama administration, it has become impossible for him to implement new programs to accomplish his agenda (2). Obama has lost his influence in Congress, as exemplified with the passing of a cybersecurity bill even with a veto threat from the president (3). This bill was passed with 92 democrats on board (3). Because of the polarization and lack of compromise in government, we are in a gridlock that makes Obama unable to implement change. I believe that Obama must regain popular support before he can begin to work to accomplish more of his agenda. He should narrow his attention to issues that Americans find most important. According to a CNN poll, such issues are the economy, Health Care, and the federal budget deficit (4). Also, Obama should begin to clear up some of his previous policies. Many Americans are concerned with the lack of information about these policies and previous scandals. Once Obama regains popular support, he can focus on the furthering of his agenda and implementing change.
1)http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/30/21252250-nbcwsj-poll-obama-approval-sinks-to-new-low?lite
2)http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/29/politics/white-house-under-fire/
3)http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/01/opinion/dowd-bottoms-up-lame-duck.html
4)http://www.pollingreport.com/prioriti.htm
Nowadays, President Obama’s popularity and rating rates has been at his all time low. His rating rates has decreased. Recently, polls found that 51% of people disapprove of President Obama's performance (1). Perhaps this was due to the healthcare law issues and the recent government shutdown. Meanwhile, his approval rate is only at 42% (3). This shows that the popularity and support for President Obama had decreased, but that doesn't mean that he no longer had the ability to get more of his agenda accomplished. He still has support from 42% of voters, and if a good agenda issue is on the ballot, he might still have a chance to get some things accomplished. One issue that I think he should focus on is the lifting of the debt ceiling. The lifting the debt ceiling is important because with a debt ceiling the United States will be unable to meet our financial obligations. If we cannot meet our financial obligations, then we lose trust (2). My advice for the President is just to keep doing what he has been doing. There really is not much that can be done, unless President Obama comes up with an issues that everyone agrees with and thinks is brilliant.
1. http://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2013/10/31/obama-approval-ratings-nbc-news-wall-street-journal-poll/3322859/
2. http://blogs.marketwatch.com/capitolreport/2013/10/08/full-transcript-of-obamas-remarks-on-the-need-to-lift-the-debt-ceiling/
3. http://www.businessinsider.com/poll-obama-approval-ratings-gop-2013-10
I think that Obama has a very low approval rating right now because of his inconsistent position on policies and constant troubles that have been happening in the federal government. Because of recent findings on the NSA spying, our allies as well as most of the population are distrustful of the government. I think that our allies knew that we were spying on them, but not to the extent that was revealed. The public approval for the national government as a whole is at the lowest point in history and I don’t think that anyone from this era of our nation will have a positive legacy once this is over. The Business Insider did a poll on approval ratings in the last few days, and they have found that only 42% of americans approve of president Obama while only 22% approve of the GOP in Congress (1). Obama has taken the heat recently from not only because of the NSA leaks but also because of the Obamacare website failure. I’m also pretty sure someone somewhere in this country is probably also blaming him for the government shutdown. With his press secretary saying that Obama had no knowledge of how deep the NSA went shows that he is either not in touch with his administration or they are blatantly lying which will once again make his approval rating plummet (2). He has been on the defensive from almost the day he stepped into office. his approval is low, and so the GOP see that he is vulnerable to attack, and that is exactly what has happened (3).He has had to bring us out of a recession cause by the previous administration, but has received very little credit. He needs to do what most people want to gain support not focus on issues that will be split almost 50-50 and become controversial. Trying to show that he is actually going to accomplish what he said he would accomplish in his election speeches in 2008. I think that he needs to show that he is connected to the public, because the entire government is appearing not very trustworthy right now, and the president is the most visible figure in our government.
1. http://www.businessinsider.com/poll-obama-approval-ratings-gop-2013-10
2.http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/recent-scandals-show-obamas-inattention-to-detail-may-cripple-his-presidential-legacy/2013/10/29/c389feb0-40a6-11e3-a751-f032898f2dbc_story.html
3.http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/white-house-playing-defense-on-obamacare-99070.html
Support for Obama will always be changing. Currently, his approval rating is at 43% with the American people(1). Even though this is no where near his high of 69% back in 2009, he almost has the majority of the American people supporting him and approving the work that he has done in office. Because of this, I believe that he does have the popularity to potentially get more of his agenda accomplished however, I believe that Congress will fail Obama and not corporate with him just as they did with the government shutdown. Congress will be a major barrier for Obama to overcome if he wants to accomplish more of his agenda because of their stubbornness. This is why the approval rating for Congress is only and 8.9% (2). In order for Obama to regain support from Congress, he needs to go back to the basics and try to find common ground among all members of Congress and build on that common ground to accomplish more of his higher/more debated agendas. I believe that Obama should be focusing on the economy, as he did when he started his first term because it has slowly improved and the unemployment rate has lowered to 8.5% as opposed to the 10% when he first started (3). I believe that he should focus on this because clearly, the economy has been one of his more successful accomplishments and in focusing on this topic, he will only gain more popularity and support. I would advise the president to keep on trying to accomplish more from his agenda by engaging in bipartisanship because he has been the most effective president since FDR (3). Also, due this his effectiveness, 45% of Americans say that he has kept his promise (4).
(1) http://www.gallup.com/poll/116479/barack-obama-presidential-job-approval.aspx
(2) http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/congressional_job_approval-903.html
(3) http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2012/02/24/what-do-americans-think-of-obamas-performance-as-a-president/
(4) http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/
The past few months of events at the national level have not been cause for pride in country or celebration. While they have not been downright terrible, they have been events that tested Americans’ patience and tolerance for the government’s behavior. Some of these events include the revelations on NSA surveillance, the threat of a Syrian air strike, government shutdown, and glitches in the new Obamacare website. All of these events have combined to bring a generally dismal mood upon Americans, and upon their opinion of our nation’s leader, Barack Obama. As of Wednesday, he has the lowest approval ratings of his presidential career thus far (1). While Obama could have hoped that his victory in the debt ceiling battle would have increased his likeability, the reality is that among Congress members and the general public, it had little effect (2). I think this is because most people view a resolution to the government shutdown as something that is a basic part of a president’s job, not something he or she should be rewarded for.
One good predictor of Obama’s future ability to capture support and translate it into policy are his recent past endeavors. If we look to something like Obama’s stance on Syria, it is clear that he failed to gain support from either legislators or the public (3). I do not think that in the future Obama will be able to initiate anything other than paltry legislation unless there is a strong change of pace in Washington coming from Obama and his supporting Democrats. It seems that our 44th president is destined to go out with a whimper rather than a bang.
xoxo,
gossip jessica
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1. http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/obama-approval-rating-low/2013/10/30/id/533980
2. http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/329219-obamas-hollow-debt-victory
3. http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/obamas-political-capital-spreads-thin-96306.html
A recent Washington Post analysis of poll results shows that recently, President Obama’s popularity with the American public has been dropping (1). Up until a few months ago, Obama’s personal popularity ratings have always been a lot higher than his actual policy approval ratings, which has shown that even if he hasn’t really done a good job in office and in his position, he’s always been able to rely on his personal popularity to get people to give him a second chance (1). However, the recent drop in his personal popularity ratings and the decrease in overall approval of the President since his first inauguration shows that President Obama is becoming a lame duck and soon won’t be able to effectively make any policy work. On one hand, Obama still has a few years left in office, but on the other hand, the people will soon start to lose faith in him and begin to look for better candidates who will succeed in taking action as the president of the United States. It’s interesting however, to look at the promises Obama made during his first presidential campaign and the policy he enacted during that time as well. Economically, he did pretty well stabilizing the country after the recession, but one of the most pressing concerns that he’s failed to address in his first term as president as well as his goals for his second term is the problem that Social Security poses (2). As more and more Baby Boomers retire, the number of available workers who pay for one retiree’s Social Security funds decreases due to the growing proportion of retirees compared to workers. Also the fact that the budget issues in general are even worse than they were in 2008 kind of explains why people will begin to lose faith in him. Additionally, in terms of foreign policy, while Obama did take the initiative to pull troops out of the Middle East, somehow the United States again got involved in their affairs during the conflict in Syria (2). It’s difficult to say whether the fact that we ended up not launching air raids on Syria will have a positive or negative effect on his image later because it depends on what else happens with Russia and the UN. Yet, while it was probably the safest thing to do, the fact that the US let Russia manage the peace talks with Syria, makes Obama look kind of like a weak leader and doesn’t really reflect upon his initiative to take action very well (2).
However, I think it makes sense that due to the success of getting Obamacare up and running, even with the website issues, puts Obama in a somewhat less unfavorable light in the eyes of both the Democratic Party and the public, especially those who need Obamacare. And because most of the American public blame Republicans in Congress for the government shutdown, Obama narrowly avoided losing even more support from the public. In general, though, I still think Obama is beginning to lose the American public’s faith and will soon become a lame duck.
(1) http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/10/22/the-end-of-lovable-obama-maybe/
(2) http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11136954
Obama's lame duck session has had a premature start. With the NSA leaks, Syria, the government shut down, and Obamacare issues, there isn't much Oabama can do with the rest of his term (1). Obama also lacks the political capital to get things done in Congress. He hasn't scored any major wins in the political sphere lately, and his current approval rating is hovering at around 42% (2). This is an all-time low for President Obama, and makes it increasingly difficult for him to get anything done when he lacks the guidance of public opinion. What Obama should do to regain popularity is first, get the Obamacare issue under control. This is the most hotly discussed topic on the news, so if Obama wants to do something right, he needs to start there. It is going to be an uphill battle. Forbes magazine has named Russian President Putin as the most powerful man in the world, unseating President Obama (3). Media event such as this one have a lot of sway on public opinion, so this will make it even harder for Obama to regain traction with Americans. Also, America's approval rating of Congress are in the toilet, which also makes it difficult for Obama to be viewed positively while negotiating with them. My advice for the President would be to allow all the issues that have arisen to settle, so at least when he leaves the White House, he doesn't do so in disarray. Either that, or pull some sort of PR stunt that will make Americans fall in love with him again. Obama has a deep hole to try to climb out of, and not a lot of time to do it, so he better act fast.
(1) http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/31/21259089-putin-ousts-lame-duck-obama-as-forbes-most-powerful-person
(2) http://www.businessinsider.com/poll-obama-approval-ratings-gop-2013-10
(3) http://news.investors.com/politics-andrew-malcolm/103113-677392-obama-wall-street-journal-nbc-poll-plunge.htm
With Obama’s popularity at an all time low, it is hard to image that much of his agenda will be passed by the time he is forced to pass the baton to the next president. Obama’s approval is currently at 43.3%, and his disapproval is at 51.3%, reflecting on all of the situations that have come up over the past few months (2). After facing countless situations regarding foreign relations, NSA leaks, budget battles, and Obamacare, Obama is unlikely to be able to do much of his agenda the rest of his term (3). However, if it is any consolation to Obama, 63% of Americans now want to replace their own congressperson because they think that they are being more of a problem than a solution (1). Regardless, my advice for Obama would be to stick to issues that are Bipartisan and that do not strike much controversy. If Obama pursues topics that are agreeable with both Republicans and Democrats, Republicans will probably lose even more popularity than they already have if they refuse to pass Obama’s suggestions. If Obama wants to save face, he needs to stop pursuing controversial standpoints and try to appeal to the majority of Americans. Only if he regains his support that he had at the beginning of his campaign will he be able to pursue the agenda he had before these disastrous months in the polls.
1 http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/30/21252250-nbcwsj-poll-obama-approval-sinks-to-new-low?lite
2 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/30/obama-approval-poll_n_4179530.html#slide=2476709
3 http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/10/31/frightful-poll-sends-dems-screaming/
Currently, the Obama administration is struggling. Between the government shutdown, the Syrian conflict, and NSA leaks, among other problems, Americans’ confidence in the Obama administration is very low and it is unlikely that he will be able to take any issues to the public and get overwhelmingly positive support. (2) Considering that he also has to deal with a split Congress, passing his agenda will likely be very difficult for the remainder of his term. (1)Though Obama cannot take all the blame for his low approval ratings as Americans’ approval of almost every facet of government is plummeting, not just the president. I doubt that Obama will be able to push through any major changes in the coming months, and I think that just trying to pass noncontroversial small bills would be unhelpful and make him look weak. I think that ultimately this term will be defined by the success or failure of Obamacare. This should be Obama’s focus for the immediate future. He should work on trying to shore up the flaws and getting the website running smoothly. If he can make Obamacare successful, his approval ratings will likely improve and he’d be able to finish his term on a good note. If Obamacare fails, there will not be too many ways to reverse the effects that it would have on his approval ratings, and he may end up serving out the rest of his term as a lame duck.
1.http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timstanley/100241757/us-debt-ceiling-crisis-barack-obama-has-won-the-shutdown-his-prize-is-a-lame-duck-presidency/
2.http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/30/21252250-nbcwsj-poll-obama-approval-sinks-to-new-low?lite
3.http://jacksonville.com/news/health-and-fitness/2013-10-21/story/obama-no-excuse-health-care-signup-problems
If I had to compare the Obama administration to all other presidents and their staffs, I would put them somewhere in the lower-middle. I personally believe that they have under achieved. By taking on too much, they accomplished too little. The charismatic senator from Ohio who entered the White House with energy, hope, and promises now looks tired, and occasionally hopeless. Many of his promises were never fulfilled. “Barack Obama, who became president in a wave of popular desire for Hope and Change, will have helped undermine both.” (3) Usually a president is considered a lame duck towards the end of his or her second term. We are not even two years into Obama’s second term and it seems that he is becoming more of a lame duck each day. His approval rating has dropped to an all-time low of 42% (1). Now this isn’t that surprising considering recent events. His popularity is based on the question, “What have you done for me lately?”, much the way people decide which candidates to vote for. Lately he has advocated for an unpopular attack on Syria and shortly after, the government shut down. Not only is Obama becoming less powerful and less popular in America by the day, our relationships with other countries are deteriorating. It was recently revealed that the NSA was listening in on our allies. Germany says it has lost some trust in the American government. (2) One administration official has told the Wall Street Journal that President Obama had been unaware of NSA spying on 35 world leaders. (4) The administration responded to the controversy by stating that nothing they found was important enough to tell the president. Obviously I am not the president, but if I was I would surely want to know if our country was spying on other countries including our allies. My advice to the president is that he should not try to bite off more than he can chew in his final stretch. Things will only get worse if he tries to “make up” for time lost or mistakes made. There is still time for him to do some positive things for the nation and make amends with the American people before the clock runs out.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2013/10/31/obama-approval-ratings-nbc-news-wall-street-journal-poll/3322859/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/nsa-spying-shows-how-to-lose-friends-and-alienate-allies/2013/10/29/0d0c2928-40cf-11e3-a624-41d661b0bb78_story.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/miles-mogulescu/the-selfdestruction-of-th_b_3894847.html
http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/28/opinion/zelizer-obama-nsa-world/
It is quite obvious that the NSA surveillance program of nearly the entire world has put a lot of strain on relationships between the Obama administration and our allies. An excellent example of this is the discovery that the NSA has been tapping into much of the German public and even their leaders. This also included a lengthy tap on the German Chancellor Angela Merkel who has stated that Obama’s “spying amongst friends” cannot continue (1). This issue has also lead German officials to consider creating an all German network for the internet (2). Also, the conflicting evidence of whether president Obama actually even knew that the NSA has been spying on foreign leaders is also troubling. If he did not than there should be much concern on whether the NSA has been operating without orders, and against US interests. To regain support, the easiest solution would be to just halt the surveillance entirely and apologize to foreign leaders for betraying their trust and invading their privacy. I do not think this will have long lasting political effects if it is stopped now and the allies will continue to support the President.
The relationship between the public and the Obama administration, however, does not seem to be as strained as one would think, because the public seems to be putting more of the blame on the NSA itself rather than the actual president, although many are calling on the president to put an end to the Big Brother like entity that is the NSA. All and all, the public seems to be quite indifferent of the surveillance and there does not seem to be much loss of support to the Obama administration (3).
The relationship between the President and Congress has always seemed to be strained and the opposition has been counting the days to the end of his presidency since the very first day of his first term. The NSA issue does not seem to have pushed Congress to their limit, but Obamacare has (Government shutdown). Throughout his time in office his support seems to have been unchanging and now as he gets closer to becoming a ‘lame duck’ he needs to move fast to try and use the rest of his political capital before it is too late.
Work Cited:
1.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/24/nsa-spying-allegations-germany_n_4154334.html
2.http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/25/us-usa-spying-germany-idUSBRE99O09S2013102
3.http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/20/public-indifference-nsa-snowden-affair
Obama has definitely had some... issues to deal with in recent time. Yes, as of the status quo at the moment, Obama is a lame duck. An especially noxious issue we are dealing with now are the damaged political links with allies such as germany over NSA tapping(1,2). Luckily, he has three more years to regain position, and hopefully, for him at least, push some legislation through and finish on a strong note. The first step to this will be to take certain bills that would usually go unnoticed, and make them high profile, take a strong stance on either side of the issue, and hopefully, get back in good graces by setting agenda, and putting himself on the "right" side of it. A good example of a bill that hasn't gotten as much attention as it should is Feinstein's FISA improvement act(3). There is already a strong majority against it, as in it's current state, it gives the NSA even more power. Due to recent events, the majority of people are going to be against this, and it probably wouldn't pass anyway. So what do you do? Make a big stink about this bill, be against it passing. The public sees you as being on their side, even though all you did was kick an already losing bill while it was down.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/01/world/europe/one-casualty-of-eavesdropping-on-merkel-a-warm-rapport.html?hp&_r=0
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-tries-to-deal-with-blowback-from-disclosure-of-surveillance-on-allies/2013/10/31/6c2c3b70-423a-11e3-a751-f032898f2dbc_story.html?hpid=z1
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/10/feinstein-shows-off-nsa-reform-bill-thats-really-about-the-status-quo/
With more than 51 percent of America saying that they disapprove of the job President Obama is doing right now (1), I think that he needs to do something drastically different to earn the support of America back. With the negative things that have happened recently involving the US government, i.e. Syria, NSA, and the government shutdown, the trust that Obama had from a majority of Americans is gone. This lack of governmental trust has caused the Obamacare act to face a lot of hardships (2). People no longer believe that Obama and the congress know what is best for them, so many of them are trying to prevent the Affordable Health Care Act. If Obama wants to get some of the agendas he still has remaining passed in the next three years he has in office like immigration, civil rights, and gun control, he will need to resurrect the highly regarded reputation that he had in the early stages of his presidency. One piece of advice I would give to the president is to simply be honest. For example, when Obama was trying to pass Obamacare, both houses of the legislative branch were controlled by the democrats. Obama could have been completely truthful about the repercussions of the new act, and he still would have had a majority voting in his favor (3). Instead he bent some facts that is now costing him.
http://realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_obama_job_approval-1044.html
http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/28/21213547-obama-admin-knew-millions-could-not-keep-their-health-insurance
http://video.foxnews.com/v/2781845125001/bob-beckels-advice-for-president-obama/
President Obama’ popularity among US citizens, allies, and congress is definitely going down the drain at quite a rapid pace. The President’s approval rating is only a slim 42% (2). Unfortunately if you are trying to get something passed or get it popular among people the popularity of yourself is quite a large factor and Barack Obama just does not have it anymore. To add on top to the decrease in the President’s popularity at home the NSA leak of tapping German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone has caused worldwide anger toward Obama. What he did know is still unclear(1) so I believe he should get some slack for that but at the same time I believe that our president needs to know what is happening inside of the white house at all times. If the president wishes to regain support he needs to start tying up loose ends that are affecting the American people first. For instance he could be working on the economy, jobs, health care, and education, the top four priorities among american people reported by the people press(3). My advice to the president would be to take a more moderate stand on these issues that way people will be more likely to agree with him than if he stays strictly liberal and overall it will help to improve his approval rating allowing him to get more things on his agenda passed. Also I would recommend clearing up some things about the recent NSA scandal and come out with the truth about whether he knew about what was happening and if so to what extent. Although people may still look down on him for doing it I believe that it would be better for him because he at least admitted to it instead of blatantly hiding behind a lie. Although it is impossible for the president to please everyone I believe that if he focuses on issues here at home and clears any doubts that may be thought about him he will substantially be able to improve his chances of passing more items and overall improve Americans’ view on him.
1 http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/29/politics/obamacare-nsa/
2http://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2013/10/31/obama-approval-ratings-nbc-news-wall-street-journal-poll/3322859/
3 http://www.people-press.org/2012/09/24/for-voters-its-still-the-economy/
Frankly, the Obama administration is little popularity with many people. US public is frustrated with shutdown, which many Americans believe were the fault of Obamacare and Obama himself (1). The American people just seem frustrated with the situation, especially because even though Obama is up and running, the website in control of it isn't working correctly which has lead Obama to have insanely low standings for his presidency (2). Obama has mostly stayed neutral on this glitch in the system that has stalled Obamacare registration, but many argue if he took a bit more of an angry stance it would win over more of the country (3). This article argues that if he stopped apologizing and got it fixed the country would be better off and his legacy would not end negatively with a huge loss of power due to his main policy falling to crap. If he gets more of the American public on his side in this way, he can push his way past any disagreement in Congress. In a similar fashion he needs to take responsibility for the NSA leaks that had led to deep mistrust, especially within Germany and now the UN. When Obama starts to stop apologizing and starts "acting competent" (mostly just reacting with visible action) he will gain more popularity with the American people, and the world, and thus Congress, which is needed to get the rest of his agenda passed.
1. http://www.cnbc.com/id/101156353
2. http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/obama-approval-rating-poll-99135.html
3. http://swampland.time.com/2013/10/20/no-more-apologies-why-obama-has-to-get-mad-about-his-broken-obamacare-websites/
Despite my favoritism towards the Democrats in general as of late; President Obama is definitely not in a very favorable situation right now. There is an aura of confusion and a general lack of trust in the federal government and more specifically the white house. The president’s approval rating recently hit an all-time of 42% (1). His popularity among the US public, the US’ allies, and with Congress has all fallen dramatically since the beginning of his administration. Scandals such as the NSA Edward Snowden leak, the IRS’s discriminatory practices, and Benghazi has furthered skepticism of any information coming out of Washington. Most recently, the Affordable Care Act’s website has run into a plethora of technical difficulties. Perhaps no single issue hurt President Obama’s image, especially internationally, as much as how the situation in Syria evolved (3). The federal government shutdown didn’t help his cause either. Now, Congress has started to view him as more and more of a sitting duck president and, as result, is giving him increased resistance against him policies (2). In order for the President to start to build back his approval from the various groups he is going to need to change his way of handling situations. Taking responsibility for the mistakes that were made is a good first step. Holding the leaders of the individual programs accountable for their actions would be another giant leap in the right direction. Lastly, focusing attention away from programs like the Affordable Care Act and towards more bipartisan and moderate policies could do nothing but win him more support in Congress and maybe they will finally start to get things done up on capitol hill.
(1) http://swampland.time.com/2013/10/30/obamas-approval-rate-at-all-time-low/
(2) http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/nsa-leaks-govt-shutdown-caused-obama-s-lame-duck-period-forbes_887181.html
(3) http://www.nationaljournal.com/whitehouse/obama-says-he-doesn-t-need-congress-permission-to-strike-syria-so-why-is-he-asking-for-it-20130831
Obama has recently fallen to an all-time low approval rating of 42%, with an active disapproval rating of 51% (1). Even in the past, his accomplishments have been criticized: his involvement in the issues of gay rights and healthcare, for example, has always been somewhat controversial. Now, however, those issues are now becoming more of a talking point than ever. The approval rating for ObamaCare has taken the hardest hit and is down ten percent; now only 37% of the American public approves of ObamaCare (2). As Obama approaches the end of his tenure and the looming threat of becoming a lame duck, he is attempting to cram as many policies into as short a period of time as possible in order to stave off his lame duck period, and disapproval has become a non-partisan issue. The Senate, for example, blocked two of his judicial nominees; the Democrats as a whole are upset about ObamaCare, the NSA’s recent wire-tapping of our allies, and his interest in involvement in the Syrian civil war (3). Foreign leaders are also disappointed, as shown by statements that the wire-tapping issue has broken their trust, as well as widespread disapproval of Obama’s stance in relation to Syria. Clearly Obama needs to make some changes in his approach to the waning months of his presidency. I would suggest he focus on noncontroversial issues, preferably in the area of domestic policy, and perhaps invest in some public polling or baby kissing to improve his image and get the ball rolling again. His first term was widely viewed as successful, with the elimination of Bin Laden and the ending of the war in Iraq, and I believe he should move back towards these noncontroversial issues in order to be better-viewed by the American public and by foreign leaders. If he does not take steps to improve his image and build some policy-making momentum, his lame duck period will likely come on early.
1. http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/30/21252250-nbcwsj-poll-obama-approval-sinks-to-new-low
2. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/30/obama-approval-poll_n_4179530.html
3. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/31/senate-gop-blocks-key-obama-judge/
4. http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/29/politics/obama-congress-syria/
5. http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/10/31/obamas-poll-numbers-fall-but-hes-not-alone/
6. http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/28/politics/white-house-stopped-wiretaps/
Although I am a strong supporter of the Democratic party, I believe that Obama has been lacking support and has recently fallen. There have been many issues that have come up where Obama took a stance that the public did not like. According to a poll done by the Huffington Post 1) 45 percent of people approve of the president and 54 percent disapprove. I believe that a reason to that is Obama's recent input on the Syria issue. Obama wanted to enter Syria but polls showed that 2) 59% said that congress should not authorize military actions and 72% said American strikes would achieve no significant goals. Due to the decision Obama wanted to make it made the people who were against it distrust Obama. 3) Even the number of support from other countries have dropped since 2009. This shows that the choices that Obama ha made has resulted in a drop in his approval ratings. I myself also believe that the issues Obama has been taking on have been appointed in the wrong direction.
1)http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/17/obama-approval_n_3453012.html
2)http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/09/world/meast/syria-civil-war/index.html
http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/07/why-the-world-is-growing-jaded-with-obama/?iref=allsearch
Obama has taken a hit to his popularity and at this rate will reach the lame duck status earlier than most presidents. Over the last six months his administration has taken blow after blow. The NSA scandal, the Syrian conflict, the government shutdown, and the problems with the ACA’s website have made it harder and harder for Obama to get the public on his side of any issue. With his approval rating of 42% and Congress in gridlock, the president has not had a win for months. (1) All these problems as well as being caught spying Germany’s Angela Merkel (2) and the Senate blocking Obama’s nominees for high ranking offices (3) have set the president back for a while. After the re-election he tried to take the attention of the public and shift it back toward some important problems he wanted to solve but these scandals and setbacks have gripped media’s as well as the lawmaker’s attention and pushed it to all the negative parts of his presidency. Since the start of the setbacks in early summer, Obama has been pushing his schedule ahead of time before reaching the lame duck status that he will hit in a short time on the law making side. Without taking public opinion before actions and cleaning up his image after scandals, this has pushed his efficiency and approval down the drain. In his first term he accomplished many great tasks and bettered the nation in ways the country had not seen in years. For now Obama should support some bills that will not make an uproar in Congress, see what the people want. He will not be able to please everyone but he will get more done. When taking a look at the GOP’s approval rating of only 22% after the government shutdown fiasco. (4) They will also be seeking to please the people in the coming months as well. Maybe with both sides settling down and getting back to running this country smoothly, Obama can get a few more months of active presidency out of his run.
(1)http://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2013/10/31/obama-approval-ratings-nbc-news-wall-street-journal-poll/3322859/
(2)http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/nsa-spying-shows-how-to-lose-friends-and-alienate-allies/2013/10/29/0d0c2928-40cf-11e3-a624-41d661b0bb78_story.html
(3)http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/10/31/senate-republicans-block-obama-pick-for-housing-finance-oversight/
(4) http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/10/31/obamas-poll-numbers-fall-but-hes-not-alone/
As of right now, polls are showing that Obama’s approval rating is sitting at around 39%, as compared to a 53% disapproval rating (1). This is the first time it has been this low in two years, according to a recent Gallup poll. Drops in approval have happened primarily because of the failed launch of the healthcare insurance exchange website, and as such, it is obvious that Obama no longer wields large amounts of sway over the American people. His administration can also be seen to be butting heads with both congress, in events like the federal shutdown, and foreign administrations, which could be seen in the Syria conflict, and the decision of whether or not to do something about it. In light of these things, it has become apparent that the Obama administration is in deep water with its constituents and allies, and I believe that if they don’t want to become a lame duck, they need to start satisfying the wants of the people, and put a hold on pushing their agenda, because right now, people aren’t responding to the agenda, and congress is even fighting it. My recommendation to Obama would be to stop trying to shove his agenda down the throats of his constituents, and instead work towards appeasing them a little in order to gain greater sway with the people. He could also try meeting congress with greater compromise, and show them that he is willing to work together to further each other’s goals. If he does these things, he may yet regain the support of the people, and avoid committing political suicide
1. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/11/05/poll-obamas-approval-rating-dips-below-40-percent/
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I completely agree with Caroline B on her assessment of the Obama Administration’s situation. Recent downfalls and failures of the government have put Obama in a bad situation when it comes to approval ratings. The shutdown, NSA leaks, Obamacare, and Syria have all been detrimental to Obama’s approval rating of 42%. However, Caroline mentioned something I was completely unaware of. Obama is NOT considered the most powerful person in the world (1). It is unsettling that the position that traditionally holds the most powerful person in the world has fallen to number two. This could be because of Obama’s inability to get things done in Congress and get things passed that would benefit the people and his situation. I agree with the strategy Caroline proposes that involves Obama taking control of non controversial issues and simply trying to build some popularity with the people who once whole heartedly supported him.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinehoward/2013/10/30/the-worlds-most-powerful-people-2013/
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