Despite President Obama's constant presence in the "bully pulpit" with soaring rhetoric and grandiose promises, his approval numbers continue to tank.The President also is seeing more evidence that his unpopularity is felt by other Democrats. Traveling to a "health care" pep rally in St. Louis, for instance, the President arrived to find that key Democrats had conveniently managed to be elsewhere. The prospect of a photo op with Barack Obama was gold 18 months ago...but it's dull lead nowadays.
A lot of the grassroots liberals that supported Barack Obama's candidacy have also cooled. This USA Today story reports that "many of the activists and groups that worked to get people to the polls in 2008 say they're not inclined right now to help Democrats in the fall."
"The energized base which transformed the nation and elected our first black president [is] now disengaged," Democratic political strategist Donna Brazile says. "If this was September, I would hit the panic button."
Panic button. Yawns. Turning away in disgust. Those seem to be the three main responses from Democrats to Barack Obama's performance as President. Whereas the Republicans and independents are coalescing into a fired-up force against him as they seek to reclaim their freedom, their nation's economic and moral strength, and America's standing in the world.
2012 looks to be an altogether different election than 2008...if conservatives stay together and on target.
