By Rebecca DiFede — In 2008, when Obama began campaigning for his first shot at the presidency, he was regarded as the nation’s savior. Everywhere he went, he was greeted with crowds overflowing from the stadiums and arenas; everyone clad in garments bearing his image and holding signs bearing his slogan “Hope and Change.”
Every word he spoke was greeted with raucous applause and standing ovations and it seemed that everywhere he went he gained new followers. To Democrats, he was a shining star in an otherwise bleak sky.
When he came to American University in January of 2008, he was welcomed by thousands of ecstatic people. Most of who had waited several hours in line just to get inside, in D.C.’s freezing winter temperatures.
Although the speech did not begin until noon many students, signs in hand and homemade shirts at the ready, started lining up outside AU’s Bender Arena as early as 6 am.
The campus was aflutter, and many classes were cancelled due to lack of attendance. It seemed that almost all of the university’s student body was coming together to hear some words from the young senator from Illinois.
The sold out event was also coupled with Senator Edward Kennedy’s endorsement of Obama, which he announced live from Bender Arena.
Liberals everywhere were floating along in Wonderland, and it seemed as if that dream would last forever.
However, after winning the election and subjecting America to four years of his blatant incompetency, our illustrious president is having a less-than-easy time on his campaigning the second time around. Likely the downed economy and the lack of work have poisoned the wells for new voters.
While his events once sold out within days of release, now he can’t even sell out a college arena. When he visited Ohio State at the Schottenstein Center, there were over 4,300 empty seats.
Not quite the “overflow crowds” he’d seen in ‘08.
In addition to his waning crowd attendance, Rasmussen recently released a poll from the race in North Carolina, where Romney leads at 51 percent to Obama’s 43 percent. This is a big change from earlier polls, when Romney was barely clinging to a 46 percent to 44 percent lead. And an even bigger change from 2008, when Obama barely took the state 49.7 percent to 49.4 percent, or a mere 14,000 votes.
It seems that the winds are changing in the reelection climate and if Obama’s strategy doesn’t adjust, he could very well lose his place as America’s sweetheart once and for all.
Rebecca DiFede is a contributing editor to Americans for Limited Government.
