How far the “hope and change” optimism has fallen in slightly more than a year!
According to a new poll from Xavier University, pessimism about the future is pervading our culture: Only 23 percent said it will be easier for the next generation to achieve the American Dream, while 68 percent said it will harder.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post’s Fred Hiatt, no conservative by any stretch, is detecting a “happiness deficit” in our president:
Here’s a theory about why President Obama is having a tough political time right now: He doesn’t seem all that happy being president.I know, it’s the world’s hardest job, and between war and the world economy collapsing, he didn’t have the first year he might have wished for. And, yes, he’s damned either way: With thousands of Americans risking their lives overseas and millions losing their jobs at home, we’d slam him if he acted carefree.
Still, I think Americans want a president who seems, despite everything, to relish the challenge. They don’t want to have to feel grateful to him for taking on the burden.
Hiatt concludes:
A year later, here’s how they [the Obamas] came across to People Magazine:
“It was their first interview of the New Year on Jan. 8 in the rose-colored library on the ground floor of the White House. President Obama spoke in such a hush about the loneliness of his decisions on war and terrorism that one could hear between his words the tick of an old lighthouse clock across the room.”
Do Americans really want to hear the tick of the old lighthouse clock? Or would they prefer the good cheer that we associate with FDR or JFK, the jauntiness with which they took over the White House and made it theirs?
Less lugubriousness wouldn’t necessarily buy him a health-care bill. But in the long run, Americans might find it easier to root for or with Obama if he’d show us, despite everything, that he’s happy we hired him.
Well, this morning at least, it doesn’t look as if there is going to be a health-care bill – one that passes anyway. The Dem Whip is opining that the vote could slip past Easter – a sure sign the bill is in trouble. Conventional wisdom had it that Obama postponed his Asian trip to get the thing passed before Easter, for fear that when the Members returned to their home districts for vacation they would get a negative earful from their constituents. Well… look what’s going to happen. It’s not a cure for depression.
ONE OTHER NOTE on Presidential Depression: What we may be watching is what happens when a man who has faced very little adversity in his life finally has to.
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25 Comments
1. Pastorius:It seems to me that, politically-speaking, it would be great for Conservatives if the Dems actually pulled out all the stops and passed the ObamaCare bill with the Slaughter tactic.
It would never pass the Supreme Court, and thus, it would end up destroying the Democratic Party, even without the bill becoming law.
Now that’s what I call a win/win.
Mar 16, 2010 - 11:40 am 2. David Thomson:“What we may be watching is what happens when a man who has faced very little adversity in his life finally has to.”
This is why I expect the narcissistic Barack Obama to resign before the end of his term. He has had a fairly easy life. Obama’s rejection by the American people will be too difficult to handle. He may also seek revenge before leaving the White House.
Mar 16, 2010 - 12:35 pm 3. stuart williamson:You call it unhappiness. I see it as anger, based on irritation and frustration.
“Change” wasn’t supposed to work out this way. HE won, the Right lost. Live with it! This was the man who was going to move mountains, cause oceans to subside, with the magic of his golden tongued oratory. Ruthless rulers would roll over at his bidding. His hubris is such that he truly believes that HealthCare, Cap and Trade, Educational reform – all his primary agenda – should be a slam dunk. It has not happened that way: he’s being shocked, blocked, stymied.
And he’s taking it personally and peevishly. This is a man without political skills, without diplomatic skills, without any instincts for governance. He doesn’t care about polls. He has no interest in what the electorate thinks. He is fixated on this deeply-rooted Socialist agenda – and he is going to hammer it through come hell or high water. He has the instincts of a despot, the brains of Chicago Machine ward heeler, and the Power of the Presidency of the greatest nation on earth. How dare they defy me! I’ll show them who’s in charge here!
An unhappy Tyrant is not what Americans want in the White House.
Mar 16, 2010 - 12:48 pm 4. David Thomson:“His hubris is such that he truly believes that HealthCare, Cap and Trade….”
Barack Obama is reportedly threatening not to support Democratic Party candidates who refuse to vote for his health care agenda. Is he kidding? Is Obama that out of touch with reality? There is no such thing as a purple or red state politician who wants Obama to campaign on their behalf. He is now the kiss of death.
Mar 16, 2010 - 1:03 pm 5. Morton Doodslag:Depressed? I am personally getting happier and happier with each passing day as Wrongway Peachfuzz slips further into his black sink-hole. I hope he takes the entire edifice of the Left with him down into oblivion. This nation has nearly unlimited powers to rejuvenate and re-invent itself. We will move beyond the dark decades of collectivist Big Government which culminated with the bitter mal-formulated Barak Hussein Obama.
Mar 16, 2010 - 2:03 pm 6. Chris Bolts Sr.:“ONE OTHER NOTE on Presidential Depression: What we may be watching is what happens when a man who has faced very little adversity in his life finally has to.”
This statement is true in so many ways. I think Obama could’ve used at various times in his life some negative feedback instead of constant positive reinforcement. When you’re told you’re smart all the time, but have nothing to show for it, that would probably serve as a wake-up call that maybe you’re not as smart as you really think you are or as others say you are.
Mar 16, 2010 - 2:42 pm 7. glenn:Thing people miss about the US is that the glue that holds this country together is opportunity and prosperity. We don’t have a common ethnic or religious link. Lose the opportunity to become prosperous and this enterprise will sink like a stone.
Mar 16, 2010 - 3:26 pm 8. gaetano catelli:re: “ONE OTHER NOTE on Presidential Depression: What we may be watching is what happens when a man who has faced very little adversity in his life finally has to.”
ding … ding … ding … we have a winner!
Mar 16, 2010 - 4:05 pm 9. Delia:Smoke up, Barry! The popularity contest is over and YOU LOST.
Mar 16, 2010 - 4:42 pm 10. Victor Erimita:David Thompson expects Obama to resign because he will not be able to handle the rejection of the American people. I don’t think he will be able to handle it well either, but I doubt he’ll resign. I think he will act out. Unless the Dems spend another year with the health bill, it will either pass or fail within the next month or so, presumably. Either way, Obama and the deranged Dem leadership will try to cram as much of their America-destruction agenda down our throats as they can. If Obama cannot get this done legislatively, he will try anything he can administratively.
We have already seen the hopey-changey mask come off. We see the angry, resentful, bitter little tyrant underneath quite clearly. That bitter little tyrant will do or at least try anything and everything to destroy as much of the American system he loathes as he can in the time he has left. He will continue to be highly dangerous, torpedoing our economy and much abroad as well, from Israel, to any hope of dealing with Iran, to whatever else comes up. He is wounded but not dead, and wounded beasts can be the most dangerous.
Mar 16, 2010 - 4:54 pm 11. AlanC:Two things….
1) Obama seems to be evidencing all the classic symptoms of the Peter Principle. He was promoted (way) beyond his competence and has regressed to the one thing he did well, campaign mode. He also seems to be suffering all the related stress symptoms as well.
2) Pastorius, be careful there. I felt the same way about McCain/Feingold and the USSC failed us badly there. I don’t want to risk that, let’s win the pot on the flop and not hold out for the river, ‘kay?
Mar 16, 2010 - 5:13 pm 12. SukieTawdry:I’ve often wondered, what in hell did the man think the job was going to entail? Did he not know the kinds of decisions that would be his and his alone to make? Did he think he could just continue being that blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views voting “present” in perpetuity?? Whatta wuss.
Mar 16, 2010 - 5:24 pm 13. SukieTawdry:And, no, it’s not going to be easier for the next generation to achieve the American Dream. Not by a long shot.
Mar 16, 2010 - 5:25 pm 14. John:You have to remember with the left how much race and the race card was supposed to play in guaranteeing the success of Obama’s agenda. In the wake of all the hype bordering on worship churned out by Democrats and the big media during the 2008 election and in the first months of 2009, the betting by the Democratic leadership in Congress and the White House was that what was left of the Republican leadership in Washington would be too afraid of being branded racist to challenge Obama, and and back-benchers or outsiders on talk radio, Fox News and elsehwere could simply be demonized in the same way they had Bush and Cheney from 2003-08 and Palin during the ‘08 campaign.
And they would have gotten away with it, if it weren’t for
you meddling kidsall those Tea Party protesters who organized around the country without any central leadership. The absence of any high-profile leader to demonize and the fact that the protests were spread out all over the country left the Democrats with no way to personalize and attack a specific person, who most people might only know through television, newspapers or the Internet, allowing them to define the terms of the argument to the swing voters.Instead, we ended up with the Democrats trying to demonize the protesters, some of whom were moderates, and others the friends and neighbors of people who may have voted for Obama in 2008. Democrats demonizing and attempting to silence Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh to moderate voters is one thing; Democrats trying to demonize and attempting to silence private citizens by claiming they were racists or the tools of evil insurance companies was a totally different animal.
That’s where the Obama agenda fell apart, and other than going out on the campaign trail again and again and again even when it’s not election season, Barack’s people had no Plan ‘B’, and even if they did, any revised plan requires a far more active president, who can’t just sit back and wait to take credit for the bills Harry and Nancy bring him. It’s the failure of his agenda to pass like a hot knife through butter that’s put Obama into his current funk, combined with the realization that for just about anything to pass from now on, he’s going to have to get far more engaged on every issue and even have to say ‘no’ to some of his core followers on the left.
Mar 16, 2010 - 8:54 pm 15. California Dreamer:He started by demonizing the military and Joe the Plumber and got away with it. Now it is Big Insurance, Big Pharma, Big Banks, Medium Banks, Outsourced Manufacturers, “Foreign auto manufacturers” with plants here, Telcos who think net neutrality is a going out of business strategy, Utilities (all big), Less-than-green airlines——–pretty soon you are demonizing 48% of the economy. And the empty suit wonders why he has a 48% disapproval rating.
Mar 16, 2010 - 10:43 pm 16. Prologue:What 5. Morton Doodslag said! The energy in this country is coiled like a tightly wound spring. We will rejuvenate and re-invent ourselves. We’ve been doing that ever since the American people read the first words of the Constitution, “We the people of the United States”, and decided that they were in charge.
Mar 17, 2010 - 3:58 am 17. Lunny Folsom:these fake Christians are always depressed – remember Jimmuh Carter and his malaise? Pretty soon Obowmao will be complaining about visions of giant rabbits or worse.
Mar 17, 2010 - 4:09 am 18. Mike_K:The best thing that could happen to OBama would be the election of a Republican House and Senate this fall. If he has any sense at all, he could do a Clinton and let them do the heavy lifting and coast along looking presidential. Of course, there is that one requirement.
Mar 17, 2010 - 6:30 am 19. Paul_In_Houston:A child was elected as Commander-in-Chief and has found himself in so far over his head, he has no idea which way is up.
But, unlike Clinton (who could see the writing on the wall and adapt to changing realities as easily as breathing), this ayatollah wannabe is so full of himself, so totally convinced that HE is the answer (to whatever question), that I harbor no hope whatever that he’ll ever see the light.
We have a very rough road in front of us.
Voting him in was akin to shotgunning yourself in the gut; you might actually survive it, but it AIN’T gonna be pleasant.
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Mar 17, 2010 - 10:45 am 20. AD:If health-care folds, and cap&tax slides beneath the waves, and the other radical agenda items are rejected, and the President then begins to “act out”, the rank and file of his party will have a choice to make:
Mar 17, 2010 - 11:47 am 21. Delia:They will either support the leader of their party, or they will support their country.
From such questions are the mettle of men made.
Poor, pitiful Barry went from walking on water to skating on thin ice (global warmin’ be damned). Boondoggles, earmarks, stimulus, dirty deals behind closed doors while America nose-dives. Oh well. Let them eat pork!
Mar 17, 2010 - 12:43 pm 22. Carl Sesar:For crying out loud, folks, Obama is not the Prez. I mean, what Prez stands cupping his groin when the band plays the Star Spangled Banner? Or bends over and bows down to Shah Abdullah bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, like his subject or slave? Even our Arabist State Department protocol says a president bowing to a despot ain’t kosher.
Take heed of Victor Eremita @ 10.
Up the creek already, if we don’t act fast, by 2012 we could be dead meat on a stick. Force him out of the closet right now. Demand to see all of the papers he’s been hiding from us, or tell us the reason why. Hammer him hard on it, over and over, and he’ll start
Mar 17, 2010 - 12:51 pm 23. terry quinn:to squeal and stutter real fast, you’ll see.
careful, Kids….
Much as I detest the (sorry to say it, DUMB,) SOB, I think it really not in the nation’s best interest to perform some kind of auto da fe on Barry.
America (the center,) tires very easily of what it perceives as party politics. (Clinton should have been convicted, but America did not want that to happen.)
Bid his sorry ass goodbye after the 2012 elections, and move on with a real constitutional growth agenda. (& for God’s sake, stop giving the Left reasons to say that the Republicans did it first.
Best wishes for the future of this great nation……
Mar 17, 2010 - 8:47 pm 24. Carl Sesar:Yep, he’s an SOB alright, but DUMB, sorry, he ain’t.
What auto da fe? It’s just outing the SOB’s secret papers, that’s all, not burning him alive at the stake. It’s very much in the national interest, especially now, to find out what our SOB president’s been hiding from us all along, not just party politics.
Bid his sorry ass goodbye after the 2012 elections? Good! But that’s no reason to keep kissing his sorry ass meanwhile until then.
And the Left, just like this SOB, says whatever it wants to, no matter what you do.
Mar 18, 2010 - 9:32 am 25. AlanC:AD you forget that Obama has stated that he will impose cap & trad without bothering with congress. This is the ultimate “deem”, rule by decree. The EPA has announced that it can impose whatever rules it wants based on the vague statutes that now exist. I’m sure that this dictators czar patrol is right now finding all the ways and means to control anything they want without need of new laws.
The stimulus alone gave them the authority to take over GM & Chrysler and attack Toyota. What happened to the financial sector again? Remember CORPORATISM is another word for Fascism (see Benito) and THAT is just one of the variations of leftist totalitarianism.
Everything this hoard of Orcs does pushes me more and more to the point where I really expect:
1) Soapbox
2) Ballotbox
3) Cartridgebox
To be played out in this country. The tree of liberty is in desparate need of watering.
Mar 18, 2010 - 11:42 am