This week I realized that Barack Obama can't do anything to get his approval over 60

[BernieSandersIsGod]

It still bothers me that Bush had an approval rtg in the 80s even though he had intel that he ignored. I wonder how the media and the right would treat Obama if he ignored intel?

[Webster Green]

1. Blame the fascist media.

24/7 right wing propaganda.

[sabrina 1]

5. I don't think it's just the media. I think what this reveals is that

no matter what he does, Republicans, who make up half the electorate, will never, ever approve of him, or any Democratic President.

That is because they have been taught so thoroughly for the past nearly two decades by rightwing talk radio and Fox that Democrats are wimps and should not be trusted with the security of this country that they cannot even entertain the thought.

The indoctrination has been so thorough that even getting Osama Bin Laden could not change their minds.

When 9/11 happened by contrast, Democrats became just Americans at least for a while. Republicans cannot do that, the propaganda machine has done its work well.

And imho, that is why no matter what he does, a Democratic president will never be able to get all Americans to rally to a cause, even if this country were under attack. It's like a cult. It would require professional deprogramming to extricate people from it and even then, it would be difficult to break through, maybe even impossible. The harm done by this decades long propaganda against other Americans really a threat to this country's well-being, imho.

But it should teach Democrats, who may have thought that this event, since it was such a big deal to Republicans, would finally bring them around at least temporarily, that they will never get even part of the Republican vote, so they should stop bending over backwards trying and start catering to those whose votes they can get.

[DenverDad]

19. Perfectly stated, IMO!

+1

[themadstork]

12. +1

[orwell]

2. He is being dragged down...

...by high unemployment and high gas prices.

If those were in line he would be above 60 right now.

[Keith Bee]

8. No

The 47% of the country who voted to place a doddering fool in the White House and a fucking nitwit next in line will never approve of anything this President does.

[FarLeftFist]

3. Also:

Bush ended up with only a 34% approval rating. That means without a doubt anyone who approved of Bush's job performance is guaranteed to probably not be a fan of Obama. So right away thats 34% who will never give Obama credit. Meaning the highest approval rating Obama could probably leave office with is about 60-65%. But with politics so polarized if Obama does achieve 60-65% approval it may as well be 100%, because their are some people (those 34% Bush supporters lol) who just will never give him approval.

[JoePhilly]

20. To that ~34% on the right, add ~8% from the far left.

That puts the "Obama Bad no matter what" percentage at about 40-42%.

[leftstreet]

4. No jobs, crap wages, gas and grocery prices skyrocketing

Given how everything's unraveling his numbers are actually outstanding

[Golden Raisin]

6. He'd have to turn white.

:sarcasm:

[madokie]

15. And thats the big rub

sorry wrong color
Sad but true

[localroger]

16. I don't think you need the sarcasm smiley -- it's sadly true.

[dddem]

17. my thoughts exactly

It doesn't matter what this President does or says or stands for, he's still a 'Black President' (even though, technically, he's bi-racial, but whatever).

[Hugh Everett]

7. Nixon lifted his approval rating over 60.

Richard Nixon achieved a 60% approval rating by giving this speech on the night that Americans landed on the Moon.

“And so shortly after taking office, I directed Rocco Petrone, Apollo Program Director, to make landing on the Moon the top priority of our space program, even as we continued our broader efforts to explore space with satellites and probes."

Then, last August, after years of painstaking work by our aerospace community, I was briefed on a possible launch to the Moon. It was far from certain, and it took many months to study the options. I met repeatedly with my NASA team as we developed more information about the possibility. And finally, last month, I determined that we had enough confidence to take action, and authorized an operation to go to the Moon."

"Today, at my direction, the Lunar Module separated from the Command Module, and began it’s descent to the Sea of Tranquility. Then, I gave orders to land the craft to Flight Director, Gene Kranz. A small, three-man team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. After a soft landing, they set foot on the surface of the Moon and raised the Stars and Stripes.”

[girl gone mad]

9. "It's the economy, stupid."

(For the record, I'm not calling you stupid.)

[mmonk]

11. +1

[Kurovski]

10. This country is filled with "silly little catfish".

[kickysnana]

13. Domestic policy.

If Dad goes and kicks the butt of the neighborhood bully we still are not going to love him if he locks us in our rooms for no reason, does not allow us to get health care when we are ill because the copays are too high, takes our allowance and gives it to the red headed step child and lets us starve because he needs the money for gambling.

[robcon]

14. Why does he NEED approval in the 60's?

Clinton had approval in the 60's in his last year as president. What'd that get him?

Obama will probably get 53-55% of the vote next year... why would he need more?

[IndyPragmatist]

18. Bush had that rating because of 9/11

The same thing would happen for Obama if something similar happened to the USA now. Although I don't think it would be quite as high as the 80s Bush saw.

[Historic NY]

21. Its because of the idiotocracy.