Red-faced Republicans, circling and preparing
to pounce on a second-term Democratic president
they loathe, do not respect, and certainly do not fear.
Sound familiar?
Perhaps reminiscent of Bill Clinton’s second term,
after the Monica Lewinsky story broke?
During that time, Republicans became so consumed by
their hatred of Clinton and their conviction that this
event would bring him down that they convinced themselves
the rest of the country was just as outraged by his behavior
as they were.
By the way, what was Clinton’s lowest Gallup
job-approval rating in his second term, throughout
the travails of investigations and impeachment?
It was 53 percent.
The conservative echo machine had worked itself into
such a frenzy, the GOP didn’t realize that the outrage was
largely confined to the ranks of those who never voted for
Clinton anyway.
These days, the country is even more polarized,
and the conservative echo chamber is louder than
ever before.
Many conservatives made it all the way to Election Day last
November unaware that their White House nominee was falling short.
How could Mitt Romney possibly lose when everyone
they knew was voting for him?
Except that he did lose, and it wasn’t even a very close race.
Five other post-World War II presidential elections had closer outcomes.
The simple fact is that although the Republican sharks
are circling, at least so far, there isn’t a trace of blood
in the water.
A new CNN/ORC survey of 923 Americans this past
Friday and Saturday, May 17-18, pegged Obama’s job-approval
rating at 53 percent, up a statistically insignificant 2 points
since their last poll, April 5-7, which was taken before the
Benghazi, IRS, and AP-wiretap stories came to dominate the news
and congressional hearing rooms.
His disapproval rating was down 2 points since that last survey.
In Gallup’s tracking poll, Obama’s average job-approval
rating so far this year is 50 percent. For this past week,
May 13-19, his average was 49 percent, the same as the week
before.
The most recent three-day moving average, through Sunday,
May 19, was also 49 percent. Over the past two weeks, even as
these three stories/scandals have dominated the news, they have
had precisely *zero effect* on the president’s job-approval numbers.
His ratings are still bouncing around in the same narrow range
they have been for weeks...
One wonders how long Republicans are going to
bark up this tree, perhaps the wrong tree, while they
ignore their own party’s problems, which were shown to be
profound in the most recent elections...
Republicans and conservatives who are so consumed
by these “scandals” should ask themselves why, despite
wall-to-wall media attention and the constant focus inside
the Beltway— some are even talking about grounds for
impeachment Obama’s job-approval needle hasn’t moved.
The CNN/ORC poll suggests that people are aware of
and watching the news, but they aren’t reacting, at least
not yet.
Clearly Republicans hope the public will begin to respond.
But at what point do they decide that maybe voters might be
more interested in other issues or worries than about politicians
on one side pointing fingers and throwing allegations at those on
the other side?
At what point might the GOP conclude that
it is just digging the hole a little deeper?
http://www.nationaljournal.com/columns/off-to-the-races/republicans-hatred-of-obama-blinds-them-to-public-disinterest-in-scandals-20130520