US Democrats face grim prospects
Published: Sep 3, 2010 23:53 Updated: Sep 3, 2010 23:53
WASHINGTON: The US Labor Department threw the American public another bouquet of pessimism on the eve of the Memorial Day holidays, announcing Friday that the unemployment rate climbed from 9.5 percent in July to 9.6 percent in August. Some optimistic economists expected a worse report, but the August data offers more evidence of a stall-out in the recovery.
Obama’s administration had better act fast, because looming on the horizon — just two months away — are the November elections for both the House and Senate.
As the fall election campaign begins in earnest over Labor Day weekend, dissatisfaction with the nation’s direction is higher and support for the party in power lower than it was during the chaotic midterm elections.
The White House is seriously weighing a package of business tax breaks — potentially worth hundreds of billions of dollars — to spur hiring and combat Republican charges that Democratic tax policies hurt small businesses, according to people following the deliberations.
Options under consideration include a temporary payroll-tax holiday and a permanent extension of the now-expired research-and-development tax credit, which rewards companies that conduct research into new technologies within the United States.
They had better do something, because a new poll released Thursday showed that Democratic congressional candidates face a political landscape even rockier than those in 1994 and 2006 that ended with election upheavals that changed control of Congress, according to a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll.
This time, it notes, voters are more likely to say their vote reflects opposition to the party in power rather than support for the other side. Significantly, Republicans are held in the same low regard as when the GOP lost control of Congress four years ago.
Additionally, President Barack Obama’s approval rating hit a new low with 51% of US adults saying he is doing a poor job, a poll released Tuesday indicated. Only 43% of respondents gave the president a positive rating, Angus Reid Public Opinion said. Another bad sign for Obama is the strength of his support: the percentage who strongly disapprove of his performance is 34%, more than twice the percentage of those who strongly approve.
But a recent NBC/Wall St. Journal poll found that the Republican Party isn’t doing any better. It’s standing is at one of its lowest points ever and its competitive position vs. the Democrats looks much as it did in the summers of 1998 and 2002.
All this has prompted Washington Post columnist, Eugene Robinson, to write a column in Friday’s paper, entitled: “We’re Spoiled Brats, and We Vote.”
“According to polls, Americans are in a mood to hold their breath until they turn blue. Voters appear to be so fed up with the Democrats that they’re ready to toss them out in favor of the Republicans — for whom, according to those same polls, the nation has even greater contempt. This isn’t an ‘electoral wave,’ it’s a temper tantrum.”
Administration officials have struggled to develop new economic policies and an effective message to blunt expected Republican gains in Congress and defuse complaints from Democrats that Obama is fumbling the issue most important to voters.
Following Obama’s vacation and focus on foreign policy in recent weeks, White House advisers have arranged a series of economic events for the president next week, including two trips to swing states and a news conference.
Panic is also setting in among many Democratic candidates who fear it is too late for Obama to convince voters that he understands the depth of the nation’s economic woes and can fix them.
Some Democratic candidates and political operatives feel the president is not doing enough to help them keep control of Congress, privately expressing frustration that Obama has recently emphasized issues other than the economy.
“We did the mosque, Katrina, Iraq, and now Middle East peace,” said a Democratic strategist who works closely with multiple candidates and spoke on the condition of anonymity. “And in between they redecorated the Oval Office? It has become a joke.”
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J SCOTT
Sep 4, 2010 21:33
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