Howard Fineman: Republican Congress's Unfavorability Hurting Obama's Poll Numbers
Can you imagine liberal media members in 2007 or 2008 blaming George W. Bush's sagging poll numbers on the public's dismal view of the Democrat Congress?
On Friday, the Huffington Post's Howard Fineman actually told MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell "the fact the Republicans and Congress are so poorly regarded, that the whole system is so poorly regarded, drags everybody down, including the president" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
LAWRENCE O'DONNELL, HOST: The latest "New York Times"/CBS News poll shows the number of people who think the U.S. is on the wrong track is at 70 percent, the highest it has been since the final days of George W. Bush’s presidency. President Obama now gets low marks across the board -- 57 percent disapprove of how he’s handling the economy, 59 percent disapprove of how he’s handling the deficit, 45 percent disapprove of how he’s handling the situation in Libya. His overall job approval is at 46 percent compared to 45 percent of those who disapprove.
The president thinks he knows what’s moving his numbers, the price at the pump. Last night at a fundraiser, the president said, "I’m confident because I travel around the country and my poll numbers go up and down, depending on the latest crisis. And right now, gas prices are weighing heavily on people. But when I talk to ordinary folks, they are not paying attention and we understand the world is complicated."
If you don’t understand the world is complicated and if you exaggerate wildly and if you’re crazy, this is the way you talk about gas prices.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Look at what’s going on with the gasoline prices. They’re going to go to $5, $6, $7. And we don’t have anybody in Washington that calls OPEC and says, fellas, it’s time. It’s over. You’re not going to do it anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O’DONNELL: If you don’t understand the world is complicated, you don’t know that you can create worldwide economic chaos by not raising the debt ceiling when necessary.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R), MINNESOTA: I say no to the debt ceiling. No to raising our debt ceiling.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
BACHMANN: Now, some people will tell you, but, Michele, you don’t want the government to shut down. The government won’t shut down.
This is what will happen. Revenue will continue to come in to the United States Treasury. And we will, first, pay off our debts, our obligations and interest on the debt. That’s the first thing we’ll do so we don’t violate our credit ratings.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O’DONNELL: If you don’t understand the world is complicated, then 142 characters is more than enough to articulate all of your thinking about the United States’ role in Libya. @SarahPalinUSA tweeted, "Get in, hit hard, get out. Need to send the world a message: we’ll only intervene in anyone’s business if we are dead serious."
If you do understand the world is complicated, there is no one left in the Republican Party who speaks for you.
Joining me now is Howard Fineman, senior political editor for "The Huffington Post" and an MSNBC political analyst, and Richard Wolffe, MSNBC political analyst and author of "Renegade: The Making of a President."
Thank you both for joining me tonight.
RICHARD WOLFFE, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: You bet.
HOWARD FINEMAN, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Lawrence.
O’DONNELL: Richard, did these poll numbers hit the White House by surprise? Did they -- did they understand there was a trend building with these kinds of negative numbers?
WOLFFE: No, they have known this is building for awhile. Gas prices haven’t just suddenly spike. But they also know that in spite of all vulnerability they have on the economy, there’s only one set of numbers that are actually worse than this, and that’s what voters say they think about Republicans and specifically about the Republican plans on things like budget or on cutting taxes for the super wealthy.
So, you know, people talk about hope and change here -- you know, yes, they are hoping gas prices come down and people feel better about the economy. But they also know the risk of change is what’s going to drive people in this dynamic we’re going to see over the next year or so.
O’DONNELL: Howard, the president does have some high disapproval numbers in there for a president running for re-election. But the Congress has a disapproval number of 75 percent.
How do you think voters are balancing that out -- their disapproval of the Congress and the disapproval of the job done by the White House? Where does that leave them when it comes time to vote for president?
FINEMAN: Well, it leaves them in a quandary. And it leaves them very upset that the Washington hasn’t changed. It is true that the gas price numbers are hurting the president right now. It’s true that there’s a lot of uneasiness still about the economy. As a matter of fact, it’s growing again.
But I think it’s also true that people are a little disappointed in the president because he hasn’t been able to change the way Washington works at all. Indeed, Congress is even more poorly regarded. Everybody wanted a bigger deal than was done the last budget go around.
And so, in an odd way, the fact the Republicans and Congress are so poorly regarded, that the whole system is so poorly regarded drags everybody down, including the president.
Harken back to 2008 when stocks were collapsing as was the entire financial services industry along with President Bush's poll numbers.
Can you imagine a liberal media member like Howard Fineman, Lawrence O'Donnell, or Richard Wolffe giving any of the blame to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), or the Democrat Party?
Neither can I.
You know what else was collapsing back then? Congress's poll numbers. They were even lower than they are today.
Sadly, the only thing shocking about this analysis was that nobody figured out a way to blame Obama's sagging poll numbers on Bush.
Give it time.
(H/T RCP)
- Noel Sheppard's blog
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Comments
Hey Howie!
Submitted by Newsbubba on Sat, 04/23/2011 - 3:58pm.
Do you think there is a snowball's chance in hell that Bambi is dragging down the reputation of Congress and the rest of the country?
I seem to remember he has non-stop apologized to damn near every country on the planet for his rotten country. Dat would be us, yo.
I also seem to recall that lately he has been saying some pretty ugly things about the Congress. Maybe if he would quit pounding them down, they would quit hurting his reputation.
Bambi is the leader, right? So if the Congress and the country suck, maybe, just maybe, he has a little something to do with it. You gotta admit, if we were a football team, the fans might be looking for a new leader.
A suggestion, Howie. It is much easier to get a clear view of what is going on if you will pull your head out of your ass. Larry could do the same, but in his case, I think he prefers the view where it is.
That is a heck of a good point
Submitted by TheHistorian on Sat, 04/23/2011 - 4:03pm.
Now we know why Bush was so unpopular; the Democrat Congress was hurting his approval ratings!
I could get better answers from a kindergartner by interviewing him. This is not as stupid as most of the stuff rolling out of Obama's mouth, but it IS close.
Dennis Prager
Fineman & The Wolfman - why it's a virtual Olby reunion concert!
Submitted by SickofLibs on Sat, 04/23/2011 - 4:04pm.
Nothing like bringing some new blood to the scene, huh, Socks?
Barack Hussein Obama.... Mmmm Mmmm MMMM!
Submitted by wedapeople on Sat, 04/23/2011 - 4:04pm.
El Rushbo, you got you're wish...
The Bama IS failing. The only problem is he's pulling US down with him.
Hey Howie, remember that guy, David Ehrenstein at the LA Times, who wrote the op/ed in 2007 about "Barack The Magic Negro".........? Sounds like you're feeling a little guilty my man!
"Barack The Magic Negro"
Submitted by Newsbubba on Sat, 04/23/2011 - 4:28pm.
You know, weda, I've always suspected that when that phrase was translated from Ebonics to actual English, something was lost in the translation.
It should have read, "Barack the Tricky Negro."
Only in small part
Submitted by jon_torlin on Sat, 04/23/2011 - 4:47pm.
The Negro part is only a small part of him compared to the rest of him though, what about that?
Tricky would imply being sneaky and taking delight in that(needs a fun sense of humor), but he's really a cold calculating POSSOB. His idea of a "sense of humor" doesn't fit that of a normal person.
-Jon
I personally know 50 people
Submitted by Joe C Camel on Sat, 04/23/2011 - 4:05pm.
I personally know 50 people who voted for Obama, who....will not make that mistake again. No one I know thinks anything good about him, and wish they had not made the mistake in the first place. Talking heads from NSMNC and HuffPo are not indicative of how real people think in this day and age.
Geez, Joe!
Submitted by Newsbubba on Sat, 04/23/2011 - 4:30pm.
You actually KNOW 50 Bambi voters?!?
Man, you need to get some new acquaintances.
Yeah, you need a better class
Submitted by motherbelt on Sat, 04/23/2011 - 7:20pm.
Yeah, you need a better class of friends.....
Many people who do not pay
Submitted by NL207 on Sat, 04/23/2011 - 7:29pm.
Many people who do not pay close attention to politics and government were deceived by the MSM's free publicity campaign in support of Obama.
Maybe Joe's employer is govt
Submitted by Dan Diego on Sat, 04/23/2011 - 7:45pm.
Maybe Joe's employer is govt and/or union.
Joe~
Submitted by GG_NB on Sat, 04/23/2011 - 8:00pm.
That's encouraging. This is exactly what I want to know -- do a lot of people who voted for him regret it? Would they vote in Skippy the Dog before they would punch the button for Obama again?
That's what will do it. A lot of other factors can go up and down, but there has to be that core group of regretful voters that really get it -- and are determined not to let this happen again.
"If not us, who? If not now, when?"
~Ronald Reagan
Once the price of gas hits $5.00
Submitted by hbnolikeee on Sat, 04/23/2011 - 11:10pm.
You could beat BO with a pile of turds.
Tossed salad and BS at 08:00
Submitted by Tomorama on Sat, 04/23/2011 - 4:17pm.
Can I go on and ask Niles Crane why it was OK for Obambi to vote AGAINST raising the debt ceiling and his speechifying was very specific that "it was a failure of leadership that the conversation was even happening and the buck stopped with the President"?
Niles, Niles, anyone?
Just like on gas prices, libtard speaker after libtard speaker ALL spoke OF gas prices being a thorn in the Bush administrations side and WHAT WERE THEY GOING TO DO?
Niles, Niles, anyone?
Are there NOT Democrats in the majority of one part of our CONGRESS, I think they are called Senators or something or do the Republicans run that show?
Niles, Niles, anyone?
So basicaly NOTHING is Obambi's fault, and the Congress as a whole has bad numbers as well ALL BECAUSE OF THE REPUBLICANS?
Is that right Niles and the two stooges?
The lost clip
Submitted by Vivaldi5 on Sat, 04/23/2011 - 4:24pm.
This is true comedy gold--once again, kudos to Noel Sheppard!
I was thinking it's a shame that one other clip didn't somehow sneak its way into O'Donnell's program:
POORLY
Submitted by grammajane on Sat, 04/23/2011 - 4:28pm.
These three jokers are the poorly regarded as well as the majority of the the staff at nbc. Obama has poor ratings beacause he is a poor Pres. His goal right now is to raise a billion bucks for his campaign and could care less about the unemployed. He talks about the conservatives not caring about the poor but, goes out and charges 35 grand per couple for his campaign "get-to-gether. Why not raise that kind of money for the unemployed who are loosing their homes and starving,
Typical...
Submitted by Phryj1 on Sat, 04/23/2011 - 5:46pm.
When things are going badly, people are worried about the country, and are frustrated with the President, the left tries to shift all the blame on to the GOP congress. But, you just know, if everything was getting better, they'd try to give their chosen one, Glorious Leader Obama all the credit. Sycophantic liars.
Oh, and "The world is complicated" is just about the most inane, condescending, and meaningless excuse anyone on the left has ever made. And it's dead wrong, too. If we start drilling for our own oil, gas prices go down. If we relax taxes and regulations and stop trying to control the economy, it will recover, and tax revenues will go up, allowing us to pay down our debts. If we stop letting public employee unions push the gov't around, we can make huge cuts to the budget. Not complicated at all, but I don't expect leftist morons like Larry and Howie here to get that.
EDIT: Also, note how Richard Wolffe invokes the tired cliche, "Republicans want to cut taxes on the super rich", leaving out a few inconvenient facts like: #1. They want to cut taxes for EVERYONE, something tax-and-spend fundamentalists never, ever mention; and #2. The GOP also wants to eliminate a number of tax loopholes, which means, we'd be getting more tax revenue from the rich than we are right now. But, let's not let the facts get in the way of pushing the liberal/progressive narrative. "The world is complicated", remember? We just don't understand what's really going on and need to let our liberal betters lead the way without question. After all, it worked so very well in 2009-10, right?
Progressives seem to be completely averse to facts and logic. Apparently, reality has a conservative bias.
Howard,Howard you loser!!!
Submitted by SnapTie on Sat, 04/23/2011 - 4:30pm.
What do you expect coming from Howard Slimeman, the man from The Puffington Compost.
Freud Shrugs
Submitted by HardRightTurn on Sat, 04/23/2011 - 4:30pm.
Where do they come up with such twisted, illogical bull? MAN!!! I can't wait until liberalism becomes a sterile, terminal disease.
To more fully comprehend the Left, one must read “Leftism As Psychopathy” by John Ray, M.A., Ph.D. Caution, it might scare you a little bit.
http://jonjayray.tripod.com/psycho.html
When the debt ceiling debate
Submitted by the struggler on Sat, 04/23/2011 - 5:03pm.
When the debt ceiling debate comes up,the Republican talking point should ALL be "I'm taking Obama's 2006 position on raising the debt ceiling."
futzman is bother by the "low
Submitted by jdhawk on Sat, 04/23/2011 - 5:48pm.
futzman is bother by the "low regard" that Americans hold toward congress, but he isn't the least bit bothered by statements like this one from duhbama, "I won’t allow the half of Americans who pay no taxes to bear the burden of the other half who aren’t’ paying their fair share."
I guess you have to consider the source. Speaking of which, futzman how are those law suits coming against the hugg&puff regarding the lousy manner in which you treat bloggers. Havve they reached clss action status, yet? Taking after Michael "fat ass" Moore in how to treat employees? Thought so . . . .
loaded question
Submitted by ferv888 on Sat, 04/23/2011 - 6:08pm.
Go back and read O'Donnell's question to Fineman, if that was not a rehearsed segment there never has been one. O'Donnell set Fineman up with the question to get the response they wanted out on the air. This was through and through a talking point spin to spill the GOP all over with the garbage of those two.
FERV888
It's not my fault, nobody saw me do it...
Submitted by Dan Diego on Sat, 04/23/2011 - 6:57pm.
Poor Barry isn't succeeding??? Must be the fault of those ditch driving white folk (even if they're not all white) holding him down. This POS will never take responsibility for his own actions and the Limp Stream Media won't hold him to account.
Obama Makes You Dumb
Submitted by Chris Norman on Sat, 04/23/2011 - 8:31pm.
I remember when Howard Fineman, though clearly a liberal, was somewhat intelligent. What happened? Either he has suffered from head trauma or was it just that Obama ran for president?
"the fact the Republicans and
Submitted by dscott on Sun, 04/24/2011 - 11:09am.
"the fact the Republicans and Congress are so poorly regarded, that the whole system is so poorly regarded drags everybody down, including the president."
It just another liberal false equivalence tactic, they are now playing this up to not only explain away Obama's poor poll numbers but also as a means to claim the GOP/Tea Party agenda of cutting spending.
But like you said the poll numbers for Congress are up. Nothing like the memory hole to obfuscate reality.
Who's being polled?
Submitted by CobraMan on Sun, 04/24/2011 - 1:45pm.
It's VERY interesting that the President talks about how his poll numbers change and then follows up with this astounding naive statement: "But when I talk to ordinary folks, they are not paying attention and we understand the world is complicated." Hay, Obama, in your opinion, just who's being polled? Just whose personal judgments of your leadership abilities are affect your poll numbers? Are all those respondents extraordinary people or something?
By the way, Obama, nice attempt at portraying yourself as an "ordinary" person. You've been a privileged individual your entire adult life.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
The trap of the 24/7 news cycle is the . . .
Submitted by Galvanic on Sun, 04/24/2011 - 2:47pm.
. . . producers' need to fill air time with something, and when the news is lite, this kind of ridiculous analysis by Fineman is case in point.
FINEMAN: "But I think it’s also true that people are a little disappointed in the president because he hasn’t been able to change the way Washington works at all . . .
I think that's true.
FINEMAN: ". . . Indeed, Congress is even more poorly regarded. Everybody wanted a bigger deal than was done the last budget go around. And so, in an odd way, the fact the Republicans and Congress are so poorly regarded, that the whole system is so poorly regarded drags everybody down, including the president."
Huh? Say what?
Let's not forget that Republicans have been in control of the House since January 2011. The low approval ratings for the Congress -- the Democratic Congress -- predate Obama's election, and stayed low during its rush to deliver a stimulus and Obamacare. Obama's approval ratings began dropping long before the GOP regained control of the House.
But why lack the facts get in the way of 'analysis?'
All of this is their own fault, because the MSM began its 'coverage' of the 2012 Presidential campaign before the fuss over the 2008 election even settled. While some called for Obama's image to be carved on Mt. Rushmore, others (like Chris Matthews) began picking his GOP opponent in 2012.