Posted by
Steve on Friday, August 14, 2009 9:21:11 AM
On the way to work today, I listened to Mike Broomhead on KFYI. Just as I got to work, he was reporting on some tracking polls about Barack Obama. Those polls tell an interesting story on what is happening to Obama’s presidency. It also underscores why he is so intent on getting his government healthcare proposal through Congress right now.
The polls show that 37% of the voters in the country do not like Obama at all. They are listed as strongly disapproving of the President. There are 29% that strongly approve of the President. When you look at where those numbers come from, the results are very scary for the Democrats. As expected, Republicans have 77% that strongly disapprove. Democrats have a similar number that strongly approve. The independent voters, the ones that generally make or break Presidential campaigns, have 65% that strongly disapprove. What makes this so frightening for Democrats is that this independent group has a strongly disapproval number that is growing rapidly as the government healthcare bill is being discussed.
The top leadership in the Democrat party is all on board with Barack Obama and is pushing for government healthcare. The Democrats, that are not highly committed far left members of the party, are starting to have second thoughts about the matter. They see their chance of re-election going out the window and they do not like that at all. The top leadership is ignoring all that and is directing full steam ahead for government healthcare.
Republicans have an opportunity to regain the leadership in the House and Senate in 2010. They have to get their act together and put forward a coherent package of proposals that are not “Democrat Lite”. Republicans have a tendency to think that people want “Democrat Lite” instead of conservative ideas. This is rooted in the fact that many of the old stalwarts in the party hail from the northeast. Northeast Republicans tend to be liberals in disguise, like Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine. What the country really wants this time is a return to conservative principles like those of Ronald Reagan. That does not mean Ronald Reagan’s ideas and proposals. It means conservative principles used to solve problems in our day.
There are a number of people and groups that have conservative principles solving problems in our day. The problem is that these are not coordinated. All of the ideas cannot be adopted because some of them would clash and not work together. The party needs to get together and adopt many of these ideas that can work and can be implemented easily. Getting the House and Senate leaders together for a few days could get a framework for this to occur. Then, all Republicans could run on solutions to problems caused by the overspending by the Democrats in this Congress. The result would be Republicans elected at almost all levels and in districts that would not always elect Republicans. Even long term Democrat Senators could easily be defeated if the right platform was put together. Then, you have to find the best candidate to run to defeat the Democrat. This 2010 election will be an opportunity of a lifetime. The Republicans should not let it go to waste.
Barack Obama will be a one-term President. The more people find out about him, the less they like. That will cause a congressional change in 2010 and further changes in 2012. Since Obama has the reins of power in the Democrat party, he will be the nominee in 2012. It gives the Republicans a chance to have in 2012 what the Democrats have in 2009. Let’s hope that they do not blow it like the Democrats are doing right now.