President Obama is set to address the country on Wednesday night to announce plans to take additional military action against the terrorist group ISIS. In anticipation of the president’s speech, Chuck Todd, NBC News Political Director and moderator of Meet the Press, had some strikingly harsh comments regarding President Obama’s falling poll numbers.
Appearing on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Wednesday morning, Todd maintained that President Obama is “on the precipice of doing Jimmy Carter-like damage to the Democratic brand on foreign policy if he’s not careful.”
The segment began with co-host Joe Scarborough noting how bad President Obama’s poll numbers are, especially on foreign policy:
The polls are really shocking. They’re shocking on two sides. One, how a war weary nation is now ready to go in against ISIS. Even 34 percent of Americans saying put boots on the ground. And secondly, how badly the president's numbers have suffered. I say temporarily but suffered because he’s been seen as dragging his feet on this crisis.
The MSNBC host then turned to Chuck Todd to argue that Obama’s poll numbers are “impacting the entire Democratic Party. We did some issue testing between who better handles which issues, Democrats or Republicans, took out Obama. Republicans lead by 38 points on the issue of ensuring a strong national defense.”
The Meet the Press moderator went one step further, insisting the Obama is entering into Jimmy Carter territory but made sure to note that the president has room for improvement:
He’s on the precipice of doing Jimmy Carter-like damage to the Democratic brand on foreign policy if he’s not careful. Now, I’m with you I think it is, this feels like a temporary thing.
Todd has a history of going to great lengths to defend the Obama White House. His bleak assessment of Obama is a striking concession from a usually strong defender of this president. Earlier this year, Todd proclaimed that new polling showing half of Americans disapprove of Obama was an “improvement” for the president. In 2013 he slammed the GOP for blaming Obama for the sequester, calling their argument “dumb.”
H/T: Mediaite
See relevant transcript below.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
September 10, 2014MIKA BRZEZINSKI: I think there have been times when we have been before [a] presidential address saying this is his moment, this is his moment, and we’re saying it again. This is his moment especially on this issue. And if you look at the numbers that we’re going to be talking about again, I think people are ready to hear what he has to say, but he does have to bring it. Welcome back to Morning Joe, we have NBC News Political Director, moderator of “Meet the Press,” Chuck Todd with us.
SCARBOROUGH: Chuck, the polls are really shocking. They’re shocking on two sides. One, how a war weary nation is now ready to go in against ISIS. Even 34 percent of Americans saying put boots on the ground. And secondly, how badly the president's numbers have suffered. I say temporarily but suffered because he’s been seen as dragging his feet on this crisis.
TODD: But it's not just him. It actually is impacting the entire Democratic Party. We did some issue testing between who better handles which issues, Democrats or Republicans, took out Obama. Republicans lead by 38 points on the issue of ensuring a strong national defense.
SCARBOROUGH: Oh my gosh.
TODD: 38. He’s on the precipice of doing Jimmy Carter-like damage to the Democratic brand on foreign policy if he’s not careful. Now, I’m with you I think it is, this feels like a temporary thing. I know she cringed there when I said that comment. I could just feel the cringe.
BRZEZINSKI: Sometimes when we speak, he goes, even my grandmother prayed for Jimmy Carter
TODD: But when you think about the brand, the foreign policy, nation security, Democrats have been running from that brand for some time. He’s in this moment. Now, Joe you made a good point, I think I heard in the 6:00 hour, which was this is a reverse situation. He’s not trying to rally the nation. The nation’s wanting him to come to his side. Right?
He’s in a easy moment if he can step up on something he said he doesn't like doing, which is the theater of the presidency. He needs to have a strong performance in the theater of the presidency tonight, because the country seems to be demanding it. They're almost -- they're begging him and the moment is these beheadings. One of the things that we found in this poll. Think about the controversy stories we've covered in the last five years, this is the single most followed story in the last five years.
