Less Than Half of Americans Say Obama "Loves Americans"

So let's rush to endorse the Progressive Position on this, because even though that position only attracts 47% -- yes, The Forty Seven Percent, none of whom will ever vote for us -- it's imperative that we flatter the sensibilities of Progressives and the people Matt K. Lewis hopes to work for one day because while they're not a majority, they're simply Better People and their beliefs are therefore Better Beliefs. *

Democrats are convinced he does love his country (85 percent of those surveyed answered yes in the poll), while Republicans (69 percent no) are skeptical. Independents break in the president’s favor by only 42 percent to 38 percent. Nationally, only 47 percent of people think the nation’s leader loves America while 35 percent do not.

My position on this is a little Nuanced, so Marie Harf might appreciate this.

I don't think "Obama doesn't love America" is slogan we can affirmatively run on in the sense that we take this motto to market and tell people "Vote for us; look at this awesome thing we're saying."

I think swing voters fancy themselves as being Above such Personalized Politics. They like to think of themselves as Voting on the Issues, not on the People, and they like to think that all these people who talk about Specific People in politics are A Little Strange and Not Like Us.

Of course, the reality is this: Most of these people don't talk about Specific People in politics because they don't know the names of Specific People in politics. That is, they are ignorant, but like all ignorant people, they like to pretend their Not Knowing Th9ngs is somehow Noble and Better Than Knowing Things.

Their position is also incoherent because "Voting on the Issues" and not Voting on People means voting on ideology, and they like to think of themselves as Definitely Not Ideological Like Those Partisan Crazies Who Know the Names of People in Government. Instead they like to think of themselves as Practical, Centered, Normal Non-Crazy People Who Vote Neither On Personality Nor Ideology But Whatever Criterion Remains, Which Is Actually "Practically No Information At All But Instead an Ignorant Gauze of Some Personal Feeling and Some Vague and Unexamined Ideological Impulse."

In other words, they're dumb, lazy, self-aggrandizing and self-deluding, like most Americans.

But even so, the way it is is just the way it is, and we cannot change this. We can grumble about it, but we have to acknowledge this as the Governing Reality: These idiots, who actually vote a lot more on Personal Attacks than they are capable of comprehending, will scream "I don't want to hear your Personal Attacks, you Partisan!" if you get too loud and too forward leaning with this "Obama doesn't love his country" crap accurate assessment.

On the other hand -- and this is what Matt K. Lewis and all the other Automatic and Thoughtless Defenders of the Idiot Professional Republican Class don't comprehend -- is just as these people look down on what they see as Undue Animosity towards a political figure, They are likewise put off by -- and consider to be "crazy" and Not Like us -- what appears to be an Undue Adoration of a political figure.

And that's what the left's screaming sounds like. "Oh my God, how dare you say that about President Precious Perfect!!!"

You think independent swing voters agree with that? No, of course not, only highly partisan ideologically-progressive committed Democrats, such as you may find in the media, agree with that proposition, or, as the French would say, propo.

Shut up Ekdahl

If they cared that much about defending the Personal Honor of President Precious Perfect, they'd be partisan Democrats, not these crucial White Educated Upper Middle Class Independents in Bucks County, PA I keep hearing so much about.

Here is my belief: The kind of people we're talking about, the "persuadable" but not party-committed, are the sort of people who say things like this:

"Eh, they're all jerks"

"Oh all of them are assholes, one more corrupt than the next."

"None of them give a shit about anything more than winning their next election."

All things, by the way, that are 100% correct, which is something I'm just learning from the Dummies at this late date and at some great psychic cost.

But what this sort of person is not going to say is, "They said the guy who's always knocking America doesn't love America? Well how dare they! I super-love Obama and I won't tolerate that kind of incivility towards our Dear Leader!"

Thus, we hardly need to vouch for Obama's country-loving or Christianity. No, I don't think we should make this any kind of a central pillar of our politics (and maybe this is Matt K. Lewis', and Ross Douthat's, real point), but neither do I think we have to run from it aggressively.

The persuadable non-partisan thinks All These Guys are Assholes. Including Obama -- who, in case the very smart plugged-in-and-connected Political Class hasn't noticed, has been underwater on his personal favorability for ages. Such people will not be Unduly Scandalized to hear that Obama, who has carefully constructed a political identity of the disaffected cosmopolitan who is Brave Enough To Tell Americans They Suck, does not love America.

They know he doesn't. Maybe they don't want people to say it too loud Because Racism and If You Don't Have Anything Nice To Say, but they're also not committed to this notion that Obama does love America.

Obama lives in a bubble. So do Professional Republicans. (So do I, for that matter.)

We should not mistake The Bubble for The Sky. It is not The Sky.

The Bubble is a distorted and oily view of the world created by distorted and oily people. Most of these people are progressives and Democratic partisans and to a lesser extent Professional Republicans who have learned to accept The Bubble as The Sky because all they do all day is talk to progressives and Democratic partisans, such as their bosses, roommates, side-pieces and sundry other illicit sex partners.

We must never forget that there is a real Sky beyond the oily rainbows of The Bubble, and that it looks a lot different.

* And bear in mind this number is likely inflated because it's the Socially Favored Thing to Claim.

posted by Ace at 12:33 PM

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