Barack Obama's 'Lost' Presidency

Americans are frustrated with the job Barack Obama is doing as President and tired of waiting for the economic recovery he promised -- and their malaise has sent Obama's job approval rating to a career low. A majority in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll favor a Republican Congress to act as a check on Obama's policies. In the ABC/WP poll, 53% of registered voters say they'd rather see the Republicans in control of Congress as a counterbalance to Obama's policies, while 39% prefer a Democratic-led Congress to help support him. These percentages are similar to those in the Fall of 2010, when the Republicans took control of the House of Representatives and gained six Senate seats. Obama's job approval rating, after a slight winter rebound, has lost 5% among all adults since March, down to 41%, the lowest of his presidency by one point. Fifty-two percent "strongly" disapprove, exceeding "strong" approval by 17%. Langer Research Associates, which carried out the survey for ABC and the Washington Post, says economic discontent remains the driving element in political views in the survey -- 71% view the economy negatively and 29% view it positively, which is the least bad since November 2007, but still dismal by any measure. Only 28% think the economy is improving, down by 9 points since just before Obama won his second term, and he gets just 42% approval for his handling of the economy. Economic views are strongly related to political preferences, with 65% of the people who see the economy improving preferring Democratic control of Congress, while 62% of those who see the economy as stagnant or worsening favoring Republican control of Congress. These survey results show the important breakdown of political party affiliation in relation to economic views, which are instead linked with preferences for control of Congress. The survey report says the results suggest the corrosive effects of the long downturn on the President's popularity -- among those who say the economy is in bad shape, Obama's overall approval rating has lost 20% since February 2012, from 46% then to 26% now. The report says that President Obama also faces other challenges. Obamacare is the most important of them. While Obama has touted the Obamacare insurance exchange sign-ups as a confirmation of Obamacare's success, the program and his rating for handling it have lost ground, both down from their levels late March after the Healthcare.gov website was stabilized. Obamacare gets 44% support, down 5 points; Obama has just 37% approval for its implementation, down 7. One reason given in the survey analysis is that the law seems to have opened an avenue for public anger about health care costs to be directed at the Obama administration. Sixty percent blame Obamacare for increasing costs nationally, and 47% think it's caused their own health care expenses to rise. Regardless of whether or how much those costs would have risen otherwise, Obamacare is being blamed. Separately, a current issue on the world stage offers no respite for Obama -- given continued tensions over Ukraine, only 34% of Americans approve of Obama's handling of foreign affairs. ~~~~~ Dear readers, this latest poll was taken before the news of the White House email about the Benghazi talking points was made public. That would undoubtedly have affected the foreign policy results. But, nevertheless, the survey shows that the two areas where mounting registered voter disappointment with President Obama coincide with the major topics emerging in the 2014 congressional campaigns. The severely underperforming American economy and its related tragic job situation, and Obamacare, are the two prongs of the American rejection of Barack Obama. His abyssmal performance in the foreign policy area completes Obama's "Bermuda Triangle" of a lost presidency led by a lost President, whose goodwill and credibility have been trashed by his advisors and by the President, himself. Despite the cries of racism that are now flung at anyone who criticizes Barack Obama, America welcomed him in 2008 and had the great hope, now dead, that he would catalyze the work remaining in the healing of America's race relations while leading the country and the world to a new day of political cooperation. He has failed. And with that failure, every American is weaker, poorer, more cynical and more disconnected from Washington than ever before. It is the loss of a monunental opportunity thrown away because of inexperience and a misplaced pride that has consistently refused to listen to those who could offer experience.