Hugh Hewitt: The president's popularity plunge Washington Examiner By: Hugh Hewitt
The president's popularity is plummeting -- down to a 44 percent approval rating in the most recent, post-Obamacare CBS poll -- and his rhetoric is getting angrier as he tours the country demanding that critics of Obamacare shut up.
His predecessor, George W. Bush, was blasted by the media when he used "Bring it on" against our nation's enemies.
President Obama's jeering "Let them try" challenge was followed by a sneering attempt at stand-up in Portland, Maine, on Friday when he compared critics of the new health care regime to fools wondering why seeds don't sprout immediately upon planting.
Americans love a good winner, but when the winner is a whiner, the public's reaction is not going to be admiration.
The president ran in 2008 as a post-partisan "uniter" who would usher in an era of bipartisan reform, but he has chosen to become a polarizing figure and a Chicago jam-down artist for whom trash talk is as much a part of his daily game. Rarely has the promise been so far removed from the result.
This utter lack of graciousness from the Oval Office won't increase the dismal 34 percent approval the president gets on health care. Indeed it reflects a defensiveness that in turn signals his knowledge and that of his advisers that the plan will continue to shock Americans with hidden costs and deadening regulations. Last week's rollout of massive write-offs by a few corporations will continue until all of corporate America has calculated the first round of Obamacare's massive bill. Then will follow the premium increases and benefits reductions, and then seniors will glimpse the brave new world of reduced access to fewer doctors. It is hard to see how even a seven-month-long presidential sneer will change the political dynamics of a thinly disguised "spread the wealth around" scheme.
In a speech last week, Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan spelled out the real reasons why Obama's popularity is sinking and why his crazy spending and congressional profligacy in general are so upsetting to Americans.
"Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, three giant entitlements, are out of control," Ryan noted. "Exploding costs will drive our federal government and national economy to collapse. And the recession plus this Congress' spending spree have accelerated the day of reckoning.
"Today, Medicare is $38 trillion short of its promised benefits," Ryan continued. "In five years, the hole will grow to $52 trillion. Your family's share of this gap is $458,000. Medicaid will add trillions more in state and federal debt."
Ryan's truth-telling continued: "Social Security's surplus is already gone, and its debt is mounting. Unless its finances are strengthened, the government will be forced to cut benefits nearly 25 percent or raise payroll taxes more than 30 percent."
These are hard facts, not ginned-up CBO projections, and the president's answer thus far has been to denounce talk radio, run up enormous debts and print money. The deadly inflationary seeds have been planted. When they sprout, everyone on fixed incomes will suffer.
This massive bill coming due is the greatest reason why Senate Republicans should absolutely refuse to go on any more legislative benders before the people get to vote in November. Say no to the absurd Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn. -- as though he has the credibility to overhaul banking -- and to any form of cap and tax. The Senate should shut down except for appropriations and nominations until the people have a chance to speak on this radical, unpaid expansion of the government and our nation's debt.
Examiner Columnist Hugh Hewitt is a law professor at Chapman University Law School and a nationally syndicated radio talk show host who blogs daily at HughHewitt.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/The-president_s-popularity-plunge-89874577.html#ixzz0kGsrZbZm
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