Washington Post: Americans Are Beginning to Doubt Obama's Competence

What was their seventy-third clue?

President Obama got elected on competence.

For all of the talk about "hope" and "change" -- and both were powerful slogans for Obama in 2008 -- the core of Obama's appeal to many independents and even some Republicans was the idea that he would restore competence back to the White House

...

"I think there is an increasing appetite and desire for just fundamental competence and accountability," said Republican media consultant Mark McKinnon. "A steady hand on the wheel. Or even a shaky hand on the wheel. Just find the wheel."

The collapse is striking. In CNN/Opinion Research Corporation polling [in 2008], more than three quarters of Americans [it was actually 80%] said that the phrase "can manage the government effectively" applied to Obama; by March 2014 -- before the VA debacle -- just 43 percent said the same. A late 2013 Washington Post/ABC poll found a similar result with just 41 percent of respondents saying that President Obama "is a good manager."

The only thing Obama even tries to manage is expectations.

Those poll results came before the VA scandal and the Bergdahl swap, incidentally.

And speaking of, Harry Reid, who is the only Congressmen I know of (so far) who was informed of the Bergdahl swap before it happened, is pretty psyched about the "deal:"

For its part, the White House claims its failure to notify Congress of the swap thirty days before it happened (as opposed to three days after) was just an "oversight," rather than, say, a calculated felony designed to evade questions, criticism and pushback from Congress (which is precisely what the law in question was passed to permit).

posted by Ace at 03:32 PM

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