Why should anyone be surprised by dropping support for President Obama??

by: Susan H

Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 21:09:13 PM EDT

Just this week alone the Justice Department put forth a brief going way out of it's way to defend DOMA( Defense of Marriage Act) which candidate Obama had repeatedly promised to actively work to repeal( as well as work to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell); using disgusting language and loathsome comparisons the brief relegates gay Americans to second class citizenship status. This whole debacle deserves it's own scathing diary but this diary is about why actions such as this contribute to the dropping poll numbers the Obama administration is witnessing.

When one thing is repeatedly promised - whether it's '"CHANGE" one can believe in' and then see rigorous defense of the status quo ante ( pick your topic - health care initiative/reform begun without serious attention and respect given to the public option/single payer/government run option that 67% of the public polled say they would like, or REAL reform geared to Wall St and greedy credit card companies which have consistently hurt average Americans, or how about the bill - the supplemental - which increases spending for Afghanistan without a timetable for withdrawal AND which contains within it big money to 'help' the IMF)  then the creeping feeling - cynicism - resulting from witnessing 'the same old same old' sets in.

Those dropping poll numbers?

Disillusion setting in.

I started out by saying this is really not rocket science...and it isn't. In this day and age it is very easy to click a mouse and voila! remind oneself of a candidates' position prior to election day. In this transformative information age we are all becoming our own research assistants and google and other search engines make it easy for us.

The number one mistake that a politician and his staff can make is that people have short memories when it comes to promises. And promises made to groups and then seemingly broken to the same group that worked their collective asses off to help elect said politician?

Just plain stupid.

More on the flip

They feel duped.

Is it not clear by now that what the people voted for was their concept of 'CHANGE'....a rejection of the GOP mantra 'you are on your own, no regulation, government is the problem'... and not what is seemingly President Obama's concept of what "Change" signified:more civility( a good thing) and "bi-partisanship".

Frankly, I think he and his administration are kidding themselves if they think that people voted for 'bipartisanship'...people fundamentally get that sometimes  arriving at a'middle way' or a compromised position is just another word for 'defending the status quo.'

People are still losing their jobs. People are still losing their homes. Illnesses are forcing people into bankruptcies. People in 6 states can marry people they love despite being of the same sex and the world has not ended...those 6 states recognize that ALL people are equal before the law.

His poll numbers are dropping because some of his supporters are registering their displeasure with the mushy 'CHANGE'  they have seen thus far and advocacy for  more mushy "CHANGE" aka in this administration as 'defense of the status quo albeit with tweaking involved' still to come.

Another lesson of that which is not rocket science -....the art and science of politics?

Don't piss off your supporters and please do not insult us and tell us the 'new position' is good for the country.

Case in point: America should not have any second class citizens, and when we did prior to this? You know, that nasty period when people were enslaved and relegated to separate and unequal facilities and institutions? People worked tirelessly to overturn laws,...  people even died so that others would be free and equal.

People pay attention to actions and inactions especially when promises have been made.

Don't act surprised by the dropping poll numbers...here's another hint...don't get defensive about them either....want higher numbers?

Live up to the CHANGE that the PEOPLE voted for. Not your own conception of it... that in hindsight?.... might have been deliberately muddled by political consultants who figured out that certain phrases sound good and resonate with people but which in reality meant one thing to you and another to the millions of others who supported you but are now registering their disapproval.