Some saw it coming, although many obviously didn’t.
According to the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal survey, the president’s approval rating is at the same low level as Bush’s immediately following the Katrina disaster. At 37percent, Mr. Obama’s approval rating on foreign policy has entered into territory never seen by a U.S. president.
A full one-third of democrats question Mr. Obama’s ability to effectively lead the nation.
What best explains this President’s fall in the opinion polls is a combination of well intended, although hugely naive, policies and poor execution.
“Wishful thinking” is hardly a policy, deserving of a U.S. president.
The ObamaCare fiasco has now been overshadowed by the administration’s incredibly poor handling of the situation in Middle East in general, and the Iraqi and Afghan wars in particular.
Of course, nobody wants to see the nation at war, and the loss of life that ultimately follows.
But what this president is now learning the hard way, is that wars are not ended by simply walking away from them.
Unfortunately, what we are seeing is the president using foreign policy as a “driver” of his popularity at home, regardless of the consequences.
During his first term in office, Mr. Obama brilliantly, but unfairly, escaped responsibility by blaming all of the nation’s problems on his predecessor.
It was only when that strategy started to wear off with the public that Mr. Obama’s approval rating took a turn for the worse.
The Benghazi, the IRS, and the VA scandals all happened on his watch. Americans, of all political persuasions, are still waiting for him to accept responsibility, although that could be long in the waiting, and maybe expecting too much.
Another grave miscalculation by this administration, which speaks volumes about its immaturity, is the recently completed swap of a U.S. soldier with five Guantanamo inmates that totally misfired with the American public.
With a background as a community organizer, and that of a junior Senator, who rarely showed up to vote, while serving half a term in the U.S. Senate, Mr. Obama went on to assume the highest office in the land, and in the world, with the least hands-on experience of any U.S. president in recent memory.
And it shows!
Karsten Malmos
