Obama’s popularity starting to wane?

We live in interesting times and the job of POTUS is probably the most difficult and stressful task in the world. This is of course why so much emphasis is placed on elections, campaigns and public involvement.

Obama rode in a wave of irrational popularity bolstered by the nation’s vehement dislike of George W. Bush, a souring economy and the attraction to a youthful black male. A great many of us in the political “right” and “center” were put off by Obama as we began to learn about his experience, stances and dubious past.

It appears, however, that some sense is starting to creep back into the American public although at a stubbornly slow rate. As of now, the most trusted pollster – Scott Rasmussen suggests that for the first time since Obama’s election the number of people who greatly disapprove of Obama’s performance outweigh those that greatly approve.

Total approval is still outweighing the total disapproval by 9%. I trust Rasmussen more than any other agency because of the significant effort he takes in polling actual voters as opposed to random Americans. Those that vote habitually are more educated and frankly more important in terms of gauging political sentiment.

Gallup, a source I trust much less and has a common history of over blowing their numbers suggest that Obama’s approval rating is at it’s lowest, 57-35.

What may be contributing to Obama’s slip in numbers and what does it mean for the nation?
Several factors are in play here in my opinion.

1. Stimulus: It appears that people are finally becoming aware that frivolous government spending does not promote a healthy economy. The stimulus bill was rushed through congress and jammed down the throat of the American people on the grounds that a crisis must be averted. It turns out that unemployment continued to climb and the amount of money spent out of the stimulus money is marginal.

2. Iran: Iran’s “revolution” is now headline news on all major agencies and the divide between Obama’s handling of the situation is growing. It does not matter what the man does, because it is a lose-lose situation for him. Due to his immature and silly campaign promises of maintaining dialog with dictators and murderers, he is left with two options. He either embraces the opposition in Iran thus breaking his campaign promise or he maintains his campaign promise and permanently alienates the revolting population of Iran.

3. North Korea: Americans are very concerned about foreign policy and Obama’s soft stance on foreign relations and continued reduction in advanced military equipment has emboldened our enemies. Recently North Korea’s sabre rattling has intensified dramatically and as of this moment a Korean ship is being tracked by our military for suspected arms smuggling.

4. National health care: Despite what Obama thinks and says, most Americans do not accept the idea of state run heath care. Worse still, he claims that the government will act as a competitor and NOT crowd the private industry – this is of course not true and cannot be realistic. As this awful policy gains more attention in the media, independents that voted for Obama will break away in droves.

As of now, Obama is still extremely popular, but as time progresses he will become the owner of the economic condition that his policies have created. Unlike FDR, Obama will not be able to pull the wool over people’s eyes in the age of communication and information overload, nor will his policies be directed to Republican strongholds to win over voting constituency a la New Deal. Instead, in the age of the Internet and the collective ADD that plagues the American public – the patience with this youthful new president will run out in record time.

In fact, the stock market will be the precursor to Obama’s popularity. As of now, we are at a critical inflection point and the 2nd sharpest rally in the equities market is about to end. Once the resumption of the bear market continues and the economic reality wipes away the delusional fog clears away – Obama’s popularity will sink.

Hopefully his waning popularity will put a stem on the extremely liberal agenda that is placing this country in back breaking debt and the flow of policies that may permanently change life in America.

Is the United States creating another Middle East conflict?

An ongoing story with the Iranian ship suspected of carrying weapons for Hamas has taken an interesting twist. Last week US released the ship after determining that the cargo was not intended for Hamas, despite the fact that Iran is in clear violation of a UN resolution preventing Iran from selling weaponry.

The ship is now in the custody of Cyprus and according to the latest story from DEBKAfile and surprisingly from AsiaNews, Cyprus finds itself in a pickle. US who just let go of the ship is pressuring Cyprus to search the ship and take action. One might wonder why the United States is pressuring Cyprus to do a task, that could have been just as easily done last week. Consequently, Iran is threatening Cyprus with economic and possibly military retribution if the ship is not released immediately. Cyprus fears that if the ship is released, then Israel will be forced to intervene and handle this mess in ways Israel sees fit. This could have the potential of escalating already very tense relations between Iran and Israel.

There are several questions that Americans should be asking here though.

1. The ship was siezed while Bush was still in power, why was it not properly searched? After all, they already determined that the cargo load contained 60 tons of weapons which were undeclared.
2. Why did Obama release the ship?
3. Why is this story blacked out in US media? There appears to be orders from the top to make no mention of this in any major news media.
4. In light of Obama’s al-Arabiya interview, is he possibly pawning off the difficult task of searching the ship on Cyprus in an effort to preserve relations?
5. What could be the consequences of US backing down and Israel taking the brunt of Iran’s retribution if the situations escalates.

I for one find the story to be of paramount importance for one sole reason. If the world is truly interested in pursuing a peaceful resolution between Israel and the Palestinian people then Iran’s continuing arming of Hamas is a direct affront to this desire. The first order of business should be the complete and total termination of all weapons flowing into Gaza. Obama can claim that he wishes to pursue a two state solution yet at the same time chooses to disregard the primary source of the problem. Lastly, the order to block this story from American eyes is frustrating and disappointing.

Iran caught with hand in the weapons jar.

This is a story that the good folks over at the PatriotRoom are covering.

Tthe gist of the story is as such; Iran’s ship was stopped (by US/Egyptians) and it turns out that they are secretly smuggling about 60 tons of weaponry to Hamas. We are talking long ranged missiles, anti-tank weaponry, mines, machine guns, the whole lot. I bet they would find some explosive rigged camels if they search the ship thoroughly enough.

Iran can send food, medicine, aid and clothing to the Palestinians, instead they choose to send war materiel. Where is the international pressure? Where? Where are the protesters who go and march in the streets bashing Israel at any opportunity? Why does Gaza need even 1 ton of weapons, let alone 60? Humanity is flipped on its head and it is frustrating.

Lastly, Obama has to act on this. Currently the ship is in US/Egyptian control, but in order for them to act in any meaningful way there must be an order from the top. I await extremely strict and damaging rules/regulations enforced upon Iran. The story is particularly interesting, because nobody wants an armed incidents – especially the Egyptians. The country needs to be sealed, like you would seal a nasty rotting stinkin‘ sewer hole. We are fighting a proxy war in the middle-east against Iran and Syria, this much is evident. America must punish it’s enemies or things will escalate even further. I am not holding my breath, Obama will screw this one up and I know it. I firmly expect a Carteresque response to this and then have the story slip under the radar.

This economic collapse has it’s benefits.

Remember when Putin invaded Georgia? Remember when Chavez called Bush the devil at a UN Conference? Remember when Ahmadinejad threatened to wipe Israel off the face of the earth? Remember when all of these guys mysteriously came out of the woodwork and rattled their sabres? Well, they were awash in petro dollars and were feeling pretty good about life when oil hit $147/barrel.

Well now this torpid trio are singing a slightly different tune. News comes out of the UK suggests that while US maybe hurting, this economic recession has virtually sunk the economies of these countries. Mind you all three have been heavily investing into military expansions. Chavez was buying aircraft carriers, Ahmadinejad is developing nuclear weaponry and long range ballistics and Putin has been resurrecting his military might across all major disciplines.

Of course they are all blaming America for their problems, but expecting them to admit that they have no economy what so ever and instead wasted money for military purposes – would probably be too much to ask.

Rejoice Americans, it is not all bad!

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