Obama vs. Public Opinion

From TownHall.Com, Posted August 24th, 2010

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Obama vs. Public Opinion
Phyllis Schlafly

Americans are being treated to welcome entertainment during the dog days of summer as we watch the Democrats wring their hands over Barack Obama's tone deafness about political reality. Their despair about Obama is so painful that they are even calling on George W. Bush to come back and rescue Obama from his own mistakes.

The Democrats are reluctant to admit the truth that Obama is not a smart politician (like Bill Clinton, for example). Obama is a radical ideologue determined to "transform" America into the socialist mold, regardless of voter retaliation against Democratic candidates.

Let's tick off the issues where Obama staked out his lonely position at the same time public opinion polls showed that the majority of Americans lined up on the other side. Obama's determination to achieve "change" doesn't include obeying the wishes of We The People.

Take Obamacare, for example. Ramming it through Congress, overriding regular legislative procedure and the opposition of the American public, he deluded himself into believing that once it became the law of the land, the people would dutifully support it.

But they didn't. Even after passage, the Rasmussen survey reports this month that 66 percent favor repeal of the Health Control Law, and 50 percent say repeal will benefit the economy.

On Aug. 3, 71 percent of voters in Missouri, the bellwether state, approved a referendum to invalidate any Obamacare mandate to force individuals to buy health insurance. The same week, a federal judge ruled that Virginia may proceed with its lawsuit to overturn Obamacare's mandate on individuals to buy insurance.

The Democrats had hoped they could postpone Obama's commitment to Hispanic voters until after the 2010 elections by tucking the contentious immigration issue under the rug this year. But then Obama brought the immigration issue front and center by filing suit against the Arizona law.

A CBS poll shows that 57 percent of Americans think Arizona's law is "about right," and a Rasmussen poll found that 65 percent of Arizonans support the law. A Zogby poll found that 58 percent of Americans nationwide want their own state to adopt a law similar to Arizona's.

Then there's the matter of building the mosque on the ground near the 9/11 attack on New York City. Obama supports it, even though 61 percent of Americans are against it.

The mosque raises another festering issue. The Pew Research Center reports that 18 percent (one in five Americans) think Obama is a Muslim, and Time magazine puts that figure at 24 percent. The number of people who think Obama is a Christian is in a free fall, and 43 percent don't know his religion.

Rush Limbaugh reminded us of Obama's statement quoted in The New York Times that the Muslim call to prayer is "one of the prettiest sounds on Earth" and that he recited it with a first-rate Arabic accent. The translation of the prayer call is "Allah is supreme. Allah is supreme. Allah is supreme. I witness that there is no god but Allah."

Obama chose the most leftwing Supreme Court justice in history, Elena Kagan. He ignored the Gallup poll showing that 42 percent of Americans wanted a new Supreme Court justice who would move the court in the conservative direction, while only 27 percent wanted it to move more liberal.

Obama is even pressing for Card Check, one of his many payoffs to the unions, even though 61 percent of Americans oppose this, according to Voter Consumer Research. Card Check would make it easier for unions to organize workplaces by getting rid of the secret ballot.

Obama is still pushing Cap and Trade, which the voters have dubbed Cap and Tax because it will make electricity and all kinds of energy cost every American thousands of dollars a year. CNN reports that 51 percent of Americans oppose it, and Democratic congressional incumbents who voted for it in the House last year are finding it a big negative in their 2010 campaigns.

Obama is still unwilling to face up to the American people's opposition to his economic policies of big spending, higher deficits, staggering debt and redistribution of wealth. According to a Rasmussen survey, less than one in five voters is willing to pay more taxes to lower the federal deficit because they believe we are already overtaxed.

More than 8 in 10 Americans believe the deficit is the result of overspending, not a lack of tax revenue.  And 58 percent believe that if Obama and Congress raise taxes to reduce the deficit, they will just spend the money on new government programs.

When Gallup asked Americans to name the greatest threat facing our country, the national debt tied with terrorism as the top choice. No wonder Zogby reports that 52 percent of Americans say Obama's change has made the country worse.

Editor: No wonder we can't wait for November 2nd!