By Rebecca DiFede – According to a recent Gallup poll, Obama’s approval rating is 44 percent, down from 60 percent during July 2009. The spirit around him has faded substantially, and although he has managed to raise more money than anyone else in the campaign race so far (no surprises there) he may be in for a surprise if he thinks this win will be as easy as the last one.
Even public figures not especially known for their conservativism are speaking out against Obama as the economy soars closer and closer to the debt ceiling.
One such nay-sayer is Steve Wynn, real estate tycoon primarily known for his development in the Las Vegas strip who said recently, “This administration is the greatest wet blanket to business, and progress and job creation in my lifetime” and then went on to elaborate that “those of us who have business opportunities and the capital to do it are going to sit in fear of the President. And a lot of people don’t want to say that. They’ll say, God, don’t be attacking Obama. Well, this is Obama’s deal and it’s Obama that’s responsible for this fear in America.”
If self-professed Democrats are now coming out with such harsh words about their former deity, the hope that he will overtake the presidency again in 2012 is beginning to falter. But it has to be said, there certainly has been a lot of change, just maybe not the way Obama intended.
During the 2008 election, one could not walk a block without seeing an Obama sticker, poster, hat or sweatshirt adorning the places and people around you. It was as if the entire country had stopped, and turned their heads in unison in the direction of the junior Senator from Illinois. His every word wooed audiences by the thousands, and his voracious energy inspired hope and change amongst a very restless and angry American people.
All Obama had to do was sound as less like Dubya as possible, and let his PR push do the rest. Throughout his campaign, Obama ever-so-smoothly shoved his buzz words “hope”, “change” and “yes we can” so far down the throats of Americans, that some former red states became so choked up they turned blue, winning Obama the presidency. Our Savior, it seemed, was here at last.
However now it is 2011, and Obama is not the shining beacon he once was. Instead of giving the people the change they longed for, he took their change and created an economy-crushing deficit.
And instead of making good on his promises, (such as creating new jobs and reducing the deficit), Obama has left Americans to fend for themselves while he decides whether or not to make good on Social Security payments to seniors and the disabled.
As such, more and more Americans are beginning to wake up from the dream that seemed oh-so-attainable three years ago, and realize the nightmare that has been occurring in its place. My, how things have changed.
Rebecca DiFede is a contributing editor to Americans for Limited Government.
