Obama approval rating down amid deep economic fears

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The debt-limit showdown and the stalled economy has tarnished President Barack Obama’s standing with voters and dampened their optimism about America’s future, with nearly three out of four voters now saying the country is headed in the wrong direction, according to a new POLITICO/George Washington University Battleground Poll.

The dim public outlook is a blunt reminder of why the White House has so much riding on the president’s high-stakes economic speech Thursday and the success of his latest push for a jobs package.

Capturing a rapid erosion of confidence through the summer months, the poll found 72 percent of voters believe the country is either strongly or somewhat headed in the wrong direction, a jump of 12 percentage points since May. Only 20 percent of voters say the country is going in the right direction, a 12-point drop in the same period.

The sudden shift in attitudes reflects the deepening sense in Washington that Obama is increasingly vulnerable as the Republican presidential primary campaign ramps up this month with three debates in the next three weeks.

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I’d like to know who the 20% that think the economy is headed in the right direction are. (And how many Moons are in the sky above their planet).

Must be “Wards of the State.”

The minute a Conservative wins The Executive Branch, or Congress, these dopes will believe we’re headed in the wrong direction.

What should be even more worrisome for the temporary denizen in the Oval Office is the fact that he’s even lost the Hamptons. From the keyboard of liberal Richard Cohen at WaPo.

Over the Labor Day weekend, I went to a number of events in the Hamptons. At all of them, Obama was discussed. At none of them — that’s none — was he defended. That was remarkable. After all, sitting around various lunch and dinner tables were mostly Democrats. Not only that, some of them had been vociferous Obama supporters, giving time and money to his election effort. They were all disillusioned.

Let me call the roll. I am talking about are writers and editors, lawyers and shrinks, Wall Street tycoons and freelance photographers, hedge funders and academics, run-of-the-mill Democrats and Democratic activists. They were all politically sophisticated, and just a year ago some of them were still vociferous Obama supporters. No more.

Frankly, I was surprised. The Hamptons are a redoubt of New York liberalism. It is to campaign money what the Outer Banks are to fishermen. I expected more than a few people to defend the president. No one did. Everyone — and I do mean everyone — expressed disappointment in him as a leader. In that area, they thought he was a bust. Some articulated detailed critiques — the nature of his stimulus program, for instance. They argued that more money should have gone into long-term infrastructure programs. Most, though, skipped the details and just registered dismay: Where had their “change” agent gone?

In general, Obama was faulted for lacking political skills. I have long held this view, citing just recently his refusal to take advantage of the Republican leadership’s desire to nickel-and-dime disaster aid and instead give them the gift of scheduling his jobs speech on the night of the GOP debate. Obama held out for an hour or two and then ordered a retreat — an epochal moment in weakness, confusion and brain-dead politics. From his grave, Lyndon Johnson wept.

For a POTUS, bent on absconding a record billion in re’election campaign funds, losing the wealthy pockets of New Yorkers sure ain’t gonna help.

… sniff…. /sarc