Faced with peanut-sized Jimmy Carter poll numbers,
disturbing big-donor reluctance, unacceptable unemployment
and depressing economic forecasts, President Obama heads
back on the road tomorrow to do what he always does when in
trouble:
Call again for someone to do something about new jobs.
He's just back from eight days in Hawaii and Australia and
Bali.
Now, he's off to palm-tree-free New Hampshire, where as
expected Republicans have been plotting for months to oust
him next Nov. 6.
Recent polls have Obama's disapproval around 50% and his
approval 6-10 points lower, worse for his handling of the
economy. That's the reverse of what it should be now for a
good reelection shot. Nearly three-quarters of Americans
feel the country is on the wrong track under his leadership.
But who thought the real emerging danger for the incumbent
Democrat would be friendly fire from within his own party?
This morning's Wall Street Journal carries an overtly
ominous op-ed for the president. It's by two Democrat
heavyweight pollsters, Douglas Schoen and Patrick Caddell.
Their first paragraph says it all:
"When Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson accepted the reality
that they could not effectively govern the nation if they
sought re-election to the White House, both men took the
moral high ground and decided against running for a new term
as president. President Obama is facing a similar
reality—and he must reach the same conclusion."
And you'll never guess which former Obama rival and current
Secretary of State the pair thinks should replace the
Chicagoan atop the 2012 Democratic ticket.
Despite a call for a primary challenge by Sen. Bernie
Sanders, no one seriously expected one to emerge. Although
such intra-party struggles allow unhappy ideological
factions to vent frustrations, of which the left has many
with Obama, they also virtually foreclose victory in the
ensuing general elections.
However, there's still ample time for simmering party
unhappiness with Obama and the growing fear of losing the
White House and the Senate to reach a boiling point. So,
the big money folks on both coasts quietly go to Obama next
spring, urge him to be a realist and pull the plug on his
reelection plans.
As Schoen and Caddell point out, "It seems that the White
House has concluded that if the president cannot run on his
record, he will need to wage the most negative campaign in
history to stand any chance." And even if wins, the
resulting divisions and bitterness, they maintain, would
leave Obama incapable of governing.
