Sock It to 'Em, Obama!

by Eric Alterman
The Daily Beast

With the market and his poll numbers plummeting, the president desperately needs to pump up his base. Drop the “No Drama,” argues Eric Alterman—and start hitting the GOP with the crazy stick.

The market is tanking. Consumer confidence is collapsing, car sales are falling, and now the pumped-up housing market is also losing steam despite mortgage rates hitting their lowest point in five years. Meanwhile, jobless claims are also rising but Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson, he of the big pain in the ass on health care, won’t allow his party to extend benefits about to expire. Is it any wonder that, finally, Barack Obama can (finally) be found out on the hustings handing out a little red meat? Obama complained that his opponents “think that our economy will do better if we just let the banks or the oil companies or the insurance industry make their own rules… They still believe that even after the Wall Street crash, even after the BP oil well blew, that we should keep a hands-off attitude.” The president paid particular attention to the remarks of House Republican leader John Boehner, who likened the rather mild fin/reg legislation to “killing an ant with a nuclear weapon,” something, hardly coincidentally, that could also be found on DNC ads running on the Web. “He compared the financial crisis to an ant,” Mr. Obama said. “That is the same financial crisis that led to the loss of nearly 8 million jobs. Same crisis that cost people their homes, their life savings. He can’t be that out of touch with the struggles of American families. And if he is, then he’s got to come here to Racine and ask people what they think.”

Obama needs to get his base excited again and the legislative record, as impressive as it is, ain’t going to do it. At the same time, the dude just doesn’t do “mad” very well.

It’s about time. Actually, it’s well past time. According to the most recent Gallup tracking poll, by “an average 10 percentage-point margin since March, 45 percent to 35 percent, independent registered voters have consistently preferred the Republican to the Democrat when asked which congressional candidate they would vote for in their district.” This number, the poll’s authors add, “has been generally consistent over this time, with the gap in favor of Republicans increasing slightly since March.” What is most worrisome, however is what pundits like to call the “enthusiasm gap.” Not only are independents trending Republican, Republicans are mad as hell and eager to vote out the Satanic Stalinist/Fascist/Muslim/Kenyan that fate (and ACORN) mysteriously placed in the White House. What’s more, some of the polls that showed Democratic candidates in OK shape may be entirely made up. If, for instance, Research 2000 was really a fiction-writing team rather than a poling outfit, then Iowa’s Charles Grassley is likely going to have an easier time with his Democratic challenger, attorney Roxanne Conlin, than party strategists had been led to believe. In other words, things are likely even worse than they look.

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