I've been told rather a lot lately that President Obama is cruising to re-election, so this seems a little, ahem,
counterintuitive:
(CBS News) President Obama's approval rating has hit the lowest level ever in CBS News polling, according to the latest CBS News/New York Times survey. The drop may be partially attributable to rising gas prices.
Just 41 percent of Americans approve of the job Mr. Obama is doing as president, according to the poll, conducted from March 7 to 11. Another 47 percent disapprove of his performance, up from 41 percent last month.
Mr. Obama's approval rating was 50 percent last month.
Considering how we've spent the better part of two weeks learning that the greatest threat to the nation is what Rush Limbaugh says about law students, there must be another reason: And it's the obvious one:
The average U.S. price of a gallon of gasoline has jumped 12 cents over the past two weeks. The poll found that most Americans, 54 percent, believe gas prices are something a president can do a lot about.
Americans have historically felt that a president can control gas prices, though experts attribute changes to a variety of factors, many outside of a president's control. They also felt this way when gas prices spiked during the administration of former President George W. Bush.
I believe this is what they call being hoist on one's own petard. A few guesses on what is happening:
- In large measure, people decided what they thought about Barack Obama a long time ago. This is why his campaign has largely been about demonizing the other guys.
- I agree that gas prices are largely beyond a president's control, but symbolically Obama has made some bad decisions. Scuttling the Keystone XL pipeline was stupid, because it reinforced a lot of other messages, especially concerning energy policy generally. Much of what we thought we knew in 2009 turns out to be not so true, especially concerning (a) the promise of "green jobs" and (b) the available supply of oil.
- While the folks screaming about the supposed "war on women" are loud, they don't necessarily speak for as many people as it might appear. The recent discussions about forcing Catholic employers to provide contraception is a reminder to people that Obamacare is coming. People may not talk about it on a day-to-day basis, but they haven't forgotten about it, either.
4 comments:
Don't forget that it was the Obama administration that put a ban on deep-water drilling, refused to permit new shallow-water drilling, continues to prohibit drilling anywhere near ANWR, cancelled the Keystone pipeline for NO REASON, threatened to put coal power out of business and promised that gas prices WOULD go up. Pretty hard to excuse a record like that and say "the President doesn't have much control."
J. Ewing
There are a lot of factors that affect gas prices. Some are tied to natural events and fluctuations in supply and demand curves. A healthy chunk of it, though, comes from speculation and perception and that is something a president can strongly influence, both by actions and posture.
If you think that the president doesn't have an affect on markets, take a look at the increase in guns sold and the spike in the cost of ammunition after President O-fer was elected.
There are a lot of factors that affect gas prices. Some are tied to natural events and fluctuations in supply and demand curves. A healthy chunk of it, though, comes from speculation and perception and that is something a president can strongly influence, both by actions and posture.
I don't think we disagree about that at all. And Obama's posture/posturing has played a role. The point I was trying to make, apparently inartfully, is that presidents get too much credit or blame in these instances. Having said that, a president who was supporting Keystone XL would have less of a perception problem.
maybe we could start with export fees for oil drilled within our borders.
it would lower the supply to the flectuating world market, keeping supplies at home more stable.
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