Obama’s polls are way down. Time for Barry to look for a new gig.
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Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication, WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "The Stringer."
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You think it’s bad now?
Oh, Ted. You ain’t seen nuthin’ yet. OWS, the Brownian Motion of political movements, is going to finally run out of luck this summer, and some poor bastard is going to get shot and die. The president will do nothing of any significance whatsoever. Obama got into office in no small part on the enthusiasm and support of young voters and people too young to vote. I suspect that Obama’s “meh” moment at the Ohio State of the current Young People’s Generation will be the thing that finally turns them away from him. And without the youthful optimism and hope to provide a lot of word-of-mouth enthusiasm, Obama’s going to lose.
President Romney. Hmm. Rolls right off the tongue. After you finish choking on it, that is.
Ted and Alex,
Much as I would love to see it, I’m guessing you’re both wrong and the polls at this point mean bupkus – O will win again, though it might be pretty close. Only thing that would make him lose is if unemployment starts ticking back up again (official unemployment, that is, which of course means next to nothing).
I’m not smart enough to be able to predict the outcome of the election, although my gut feeling is that Obama will remain in office.
However, the premise of this cartoon is that Obama will be looking for a job — and that ain’t never gonna happen. His government pension, along with speaking fees and books and whatever, will guarantee that he never has to work again.
Ted, Alex-
What polls might you be referring to? There were a couple of polls where Obama was down a few weeks ago, but it was very clear they were outliers and indeed his numbers already came back some. His polls are fine- just about where I’d expect them to be, and certainly high enough to beat Mitt, Rick, Newt or Ron.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: The ONLY way Obama loses is if there’s a brokered convention and somebody who’s not currently in the clown car race that we know as the Republican primary process gets the final nomination.
OWS has been, and continues to be irrelevant, Alex, your goulish wish for some poor sap to die so you can get rid of Obama nonwithstanding. Even if, God forbid, your wish comes true, and some poor schmuck gets brutalized to death this summer (doubtful- it didn’t happen when OWS was around last time, and I sincerely doubt they’ll get that level of interest again now that everyone has seen how utterly ineffective they were/are), I sincerely doubt young people are going to turn away from Obama to give the type of people who would empower even more police to brutallize protestors the keys to the store. Simply put, they aren’t that stupid. You should have a little more faith.
Obviously I’m wallowing in wishful thinking here. Not about Obama’s defeat, which I don’t care about either way, but the idea that a multimillionaire would be looking for work.
Ha-ha, if only: in real life, all career politicians that run their course in office have a guaranteed comfortable future, secured in speaking engagements, book deals and “consulting” to friends of the powers that be, i.e., “private” enterprise that goes hand in hand with the state.
As to the polls … I don’t doubt that tomorrow there will be a poll that contradicts today’s poll, and that second poll will be contradicted, in turn, by a poll two days later. I still think that regardless of the particular polls this far out, Obama’s re-election is becoming less and less certain.
Looking at the up-forcing factors and the down-forcing factors, I keep seeing a lot of down-forcing ones and few up-forcing ones. We’re leaving Iraq? Hurrah. Clap sarcastically. A pointless war comes to an end. Hardly the feel-good ending we’ve all been hoping for. We’ll probably have some sabre-rattling over Syria or Iran over the next few months to fill everyone with more dread and that will not send Obama’s approval through the roof. The economy’s improving? Hurrah. Clap sarcastically. It will take years before the night-time panic attacks end for a lot of people. They aren’t going to be racing to the voting booths either.
It isn’t that the young people are going to turn away from Obama to embrace the other side’s candidate. They’re simply going to turn away from Obama.
As to the idea of a brokered convention. Absolutely impossible that one of the current batch isn’t going to get the nomination. It will be Romney, barring some sort of career-ending scandal.
And just a clarification. I don’t “wish” one of the OWSers will die. And certainly not to get rid of Obama. He’s going to lose the election anyway. No one needs to die to accomplish that.
For a lot of people, especially the ones who’ve lost their homes or had to give up the notion of retirement (at least as something pleasant) or who are staring at crippling student loans and no job prospects outside of retail, they’ve had the wake up call. I wouldn’t be surprised if the pundits comment repeatedly about how the percentage of non-voters is the highest it’s been in decades. “It’s almost like a lot of people simply gave up on the system!”
When the Republican nominee gets anointed or created or whatever the verb would be, we’ll have to solidify the terms for our friendly wager. I’ll start rolling pennies and nickels to raise the $25 right now.
You forgot to mention that he “is overqualified”, the get out of jail free term used to successfully mask age-ist hiring policy, which effect many job seekers approaching 50 or older.
Alex-
“I still think that regardless of the particular polls this far out, Obama’s re-election is becoming less and less certain. ”
Funny, I’d say just the opposite- that as time goes on, Obama’s re-election is becoming more and more certain. The more people see how utterly disastrous the alternative would be, the more dispirited the Republican base gets and the more determined the Democratic one gets.
“It isn’t that the young people are going to turn away from Obama to embrace the other side’s candidate. They’re simply going to turn away from Obama.”
Turning away from the guy who is making things better and handing the keys over to people who have demonstrated they will make things worse because the first guy isn’t making things better fast enough to suit you is stupid. Abandoning this system, causing a much worse in every conceivable way system to take it’s place is stupid. Young people aren’t stupid. Have a little faith.
You’re half right though- if the Republican candidate is Romney, you are going to see the lowest turnout ever- on the Republican side.
@Whimsical: Now I *know* you’re off-base.
Republicans always fall in line. Their hatred always makes them vote, even if they dislike their candidate.
Claiming the power 1) to put US citizens into indefinite detention and 2) to murder US citizens in foreign countries, each needing ONLY presidential order without judicial review, is NOT “making things better,” at any speed.
The only thing more frustrating than the willful ignorance of Republican party supporters, is the naive gullibility of the Democrat party supporters.
My “liberal” friends were furious with me when I refused to support Obama in ’08. They’re fine people, but like Whimsical and some others who post here regularly, they refuse to see that supporting Obama is just taking a tortuous path to the same end. Sadly, I think he’s the most likely to win the next election, with Romney having narrow chance, and anyone else having a tiny, tiny sliver of a chance.
I’m rooting for someone like Santorum or Ron Paul to win. Not because I think they’ll be better – they’ll be an absolute disaster. But I think this country needs a serious disaster to wake people up to the dangers our plutocratic caste is putting us in. At present, we as a People might be strong enough to survive the revolution. Another 8, 12, or 16 years of this slow death and we might never be able to recover.
denny-
The right WANTS you to revolt as it gives them the perfect opportunity to complete their endgame – the complete dismantling of democracy to be replaced with a fascist theocracy. No thank you.
This country will NOT survive a revolution – all overthrowing this system will do is guarantee that a system that is much worse will arise in its place. Thanks, but no thanks.
@Whimsical: Why would the US not survive a revolution? Every other country has. Are we really that much weaker than East Timor?
The right wants us to revolt? Perhaps.
But Obama says: “You don’t want those crazy fools to have the presidential powers I have amassed (one of which I got by faking a veto threat.)”
This is political cynicism at its worst.
@ someone
‘March 22, 2012 at 6:03 AM
You forgot to mention that he “is overqualified”, the get out of jail free term used to successfully mask age-ist hiring policy, which effect many job seekers approaching 50 or older.’
“Over-qualified” — how many times did I hear that? And it wasn’t necessarily related to age. I asked an interviewer one time: What does that mean? His response: “We can’t afford to pay you what you’re worth.”
I had another interviewer tell me: “If you were black, an Indian, or even a woman — I could hire you. But this position is reserved for a minority. And I didn’t tell you that.”
As has been pointed out before, Republican Presidents have the salutory effect of making Democrats suddenly care about foreign policy and constitutional law. I would vote Republican if I weren’t certain that it would mean another pointless war and eight more years of the Bear Market.
@Ted
You’re discounting the Tea Party. They have NO intention of “falling in line”; II married into an extensive Teapublican family (with a healthy sprinkling of racism to boot); most of whom are planning to stay home if Romney gets the nom. It’s about 80% the mirror image of your own position (i.e. they think another Obama term will be such a disaster that people will wake up and vote for a “true” conservative) and 20% they hate Mormons more than they hate blacks.
I suppose they could be lying to me about staying home, but I can’t honestly imagine why they’d bother. Still, I can only base my speculation on the information I’m given.
As for revolution, lets be clear: There would still be a country named “The United States” after your failed revoultion gives the right their exuse to go to endgame. It just won’t resemble the country we grew up in and presumably love in any way, shape or form, outside of the name.
As far as I know, East Timor doesn’t have a sizeable component of internal enemies who have been worrking behind the scenes/drooling at the thought of remaking the country in their own image for decades now. If that makes us weaker than East Timor, then hell yeah, we’re weaker than East Timor.
@dennyd: I concede that Sanctorum would be a disaster, but what about Paul’s presidency would be a disaster: ending all military entanglements? recalling all troops stationed abroad? Oh, I see, you fear for the cherished Federal Reserve, IRS and Social Security, right? You do know, per chance, he wouldn’t be able to terminate ’em (not that there’s anything wrong with it!) by executive order, right?
@Ted: in the remote chance Paul does get the nomination, I see consertive hatred of him making most neocons and flag-wavers stay at home. I’d put a wager on that, actually.
@Ted, re: Is the US really weaker than East Timor:
Answer: Yes, The US as a unified, coherent, single nation in this context is weaker than East Timor, in the same sense that the Soviet Union was. I think an outright revolution in the United States would fracture it into multiple regional political entities. In fact, I think this would prove beneficial long term. of course, I also don’t live in a shithole like Mississippi.
I agree with Bucephalus…the outrage over Paul’s dovish (read: reasonable) approach to human interaction, despite his shortcomings in undertanding how society works, would turn most Republicans away.
The question of “can the US survive a revolution” needs clarifying.
What does everyone mean when they say “the U.S.”? The reality is that the U.S. has been a bunch of countries for a while. Does anyone here honestly think the South is the same as the Northeast? We should fragment and give everyone a one-year period to relocate. The South can go back to the 12th century, the Northeast can continue to have lower rates of unwanted pregnancy, higher literacy, less child abuse, and higher educational attainment.
@alex
The United state is a set of ideas-ideals, even. They won’t survive a revolution. The country will, in name, but nothing else.
Anybody know what Willard Mitt Romney’s golf handicap is ?…
Henri
@Ted – The United States isn’t a country, it’s a nation-state composed of multiple countries (perhaps as many as a dozen) with radically divergent cultures and values. The only things presently holding the nation together are inertia and the belief that we’re materially better off so long as we remain united. We maintain a certain facade of unity through similar language. Everyone says, for example, that they want “freedom” and “equality” but can mean radically different things by those terms.
Barring it ending with a military force powerful enough to the nation together through martial law there’s very, very little chance that the US could survive any sort of revolution intact.