Washington Post joins the chorus

An extremely negative portrait of Obama’s political fortunes and prospects by the Washington Post, entitled “Obama ratings sink to new lows as hope fades.” Here’s one telling passage:

By this time in their presidencies, approval ratings for both Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton—who also suffered serious midterm setbacks during their first term—had settled safely above the 50 percent mark. Both then stayed in positive territory throughout their reelection campaigns.

When ratings for George W. Bush slipped into the low 40s during his second term in office, they remained there or lower for the remainder of his presidency.

That dispenses with a point I’ve previously made in minimizing the importance of Obama’s low approval ratings—that Reagan had low ratings for a long time in his first term, then was re-elected. As the second quoted paragraph shows, Obama is now past the point where the Obama-Reagan comparison is relevant.

Also, when the major liberal media are talking about the deep trouble Obama is in, that’s a national story, with a wider significance than the perennial conservative triumphalism about Obama’s low approval ratings which this site is always criticizing.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at September 06, 2011 07:49 AM | Send