Profiles in Courage: Obama and Wisconsin [Fritzworth]

I look at the Rasmussen Daily Presidential Tracking Poll most mornings, mostly to see what correlation if any there appears to be between current events and Pres. Obama's approval/disapproval ratings. And it seems pretty clear that the Wisconsin debacle has had an impact.

This probably explains why the White House is now denying any involvement in the protests, in spite of Obama's own public statements criticizing Gov. Walker and the evidence that the DNC and Obama's personal campaign action group, Organizing For America, were clearly involved, as the Washington Post itself reported (same article):

The president's political machine worked in close coordination Thursday with state and national union officials to mobilize thousands of protesters to gather in Madison and to plan similar demonstrations in other state capitals.

Their efforts began to spread, as thousands of labor supporters turned out for a hearing in Columbus, Ohio, to protest a measure from Gov. John Kasich (R) that would cut collective-bargaining rights.

Note that all three news sources I quoted -- NY Times, Washington Post, and Politico -- are left-leaning media; I'm not quoting Beck, Rush, and O'Reilly here.

Now as for the impact. If you look at the recent history of the Rasmussen Approval Index (Strongly Approve - Strongly Disapprove), you'll see that Pres. Obama wasn't doing too badly -- for an 11-day stretch there (2/7 to 2/17), his rating fluctuated between -11 and -7. But it was on Thursday, Feb 17th, that Obama spoke out again Governor Walker and in support of the protesting unions. Let's look at how his score changes:

2/17: -9 (Obama criticizes Walker and the Wisconsin Pubs)
2/18: -14
2/19: -15
2/20: -18
2/21: -18
2/22: -20 (White House denies involvement in Wisconsin protests)

Bam! Down 11 points in 5 days, and over a holiday weekend, no less. Note that it's been three (3) months since Obama's index has been down at -20. That makes it hard to explain that as being tied to anything but the Wisconsin kerfuffle. And so now the White House is scrambling on Tuesday to disassociate itself from something it jumped into with both feet on Friday Thursday.

As Ben Smith at Politico puts in, "DNC, under the bus." Smith sounds just a bit ticked that the White House is calling his reporting "overblown", and with good reason. But it is fun to watch. ..fritz..

posted by Open Blogger at 03:15 PM

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