Obama’s Making it Popular to be President Once Again.
By Angel Elliott, Political Journalist
(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Could it be his charming smile? The way that he effortlessly passes bills and legislation from house to house without breaking a sweat? Could it be the way that he’s brought the nuclear family back into vogue? Or maybe Americans are just happy to have someone in office that’s completely opposite of Bush. Whatever it is, Americans love affair with President Barack Obama continues and is in fact at an all time high.
According to a recent poll conducted by NBC News/Wall Street Journal, “two thirds of Americans feel hopeful about his leadership, and six in 10 approve of the job he’s doing in the White House.” That number is astonishing in light of some outright opposition to his policies, an unemployment rate of 7.6 percent, a 15 year all time high, and 70 percent of all adults being dissatisfied with the economy overall. One thing the public recognizes is Obama’s unfortunate inheritance of the nations poor fiscal situation. According to the same NBC News/ WSJ poll, 84 percent of Americans believe that the clean up the economy was Bush’s going away present to the new president.
Could Americans trust President Obama because of his transparency? All throughout the election season, Obama campaigned on a promise to change the way Washington worked; and to once again make sure Americans are always informed on the legislation being passed. So far every time he’s passed a bill or extended one, he’s held a press conference to explain it, or gone on a state to state tour pitching it to the people. He’s also followed through on his promise to close Guantanamo, cut taxes for 95 percent of all Americans which he ordered the Treasury to implement on February 21st, and signed an expansion of the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Let also not forget that 80 percent of Americans approve of his plan to pull out of Iraq within 19 months.
It looks like Obama is passing his 100 day test with flying colors, all though it has had some set backs. His trouble filling key cabinet positions hasn’t gone unnoticed by the media. Former Health Secretary appointee Tom Daschle had to step down because of unpaid tax problems; the same decision was made days earlier by Chief Performance Officer appointee Nancy Killefer for the same reasons. But this early capitulation of White House appointees could be a good thing. Lets not forget the number of folks that chose to say sayonara to our past president when he was well into his presidential term; including Secretary of State Colin Powell, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and a whole slough of Housing Secretaries, Attorney Generals and Treasury Secretaries.
President Obama just may be onto something with this new truth, trust and transparency tactic he’s using. I’m sure many Americans would agree its something that we haven’t seen in quite some time.
-Angel Elliott
