The following article can be summarized by quoting this key paragraph :
Many voters who chose Obama last time around are quick to vent frustration
over the discrepancy between what they had hoped from a historic Obama
presidency
and what actually transpired. Almost no McCain voters, meanwhile, seem
ready
to cast a ballot for the Democrat.
And this follow-up :
Even the president's supporters -- and there are still legions of them --
are gloomy....
All search for excuses.
The question to ask is how was it possible for so many --including
millions of
very smart people-- not to have seen this coming ?
A related question concerns the Right. We all know how badly the George W
Bush
presidency turned out. How was it possible for many of the same people
not to see that coming, either ?
In 2000, while I certainly did not like Gore and voted for Nader in
protest,
it was no problem at all to see Bush as a certified disaster-in-the-making.
The "aha moment" came when Bush said that his favorite "political hero"
was Jesus ! That not only did not answer the question he was asked,
and not only sidestepped what would have been a golden opportunity
to discuss political philosophy, it was blatant pandering. Not to mention
the fact that it was a gross distortion of history and religion.
No problem at all for me to see in Bush, in 2000, a hypocrite of the
first magnitude and , given his foot-in-mouth proclivities generally,
someone who would cause problems for himself and the nation
every step of the way. Plus, of course, he was enslaved to Big Oil
interests
and had an economic policy that served these interests before all else--
at everyone else's expense.
The point is that it should have been just as obvious in 2008 that Obama
would be just as bad, if not worse. For a multitude of reasons, Jeremiah
Wright,
Ayers, connections to Islam, no published research despite being a
university
professor, a wife who was ashamed of America, etc, and utter naivete about
the economy, indeed, utter disinterest in economics.
The problem is not partisan, in other words.
What explains such abysmal lack of foresight on the part of both
Bush voters in 2000 and Obama voters in 2008 ?
Anyone care to try and answer ?
Billy
====================================
In Iowa, disappointment with Obama runs deep
By Ivan Couronne (AFP)– October 27, 2012
WILLIAMSBURG, Iowa — In Iowa, a rural state of outsized political
importance, retired nurse Pauline McAreavy is among thousands eager to vote
against
President Barack Obama after four years of disappointment.
McAreavy holds a personal grudge against the president that dates back to
2008, when she hosted Obama's supporters for three weeks in the Midwestern
state that nurtured his improbable White House dreams.
She never got a thank you note for her small role in helping land Obama in
the White House, but McAreavy's antagonism goes deeper, the product of
broken promises and accumulated disillusion with the "hope" promised by the
man
who has billed himself an "adopted son" of Iowa.
"Obama gave us this 'no red, no blue state' America," said McAreavy, 78.
"I was fooled, I kick myself everyday," she said. "I said: 'In four years
I'll get you buddy -- and I'm going to.'"
Her home lies in the state's Iowa County, where residents gave exactly the
same number of votes to Obama and his Republican rival John McCain in the
2008 elections: 4,173 votes each.
The Obama campaign is hoping that Iowa voters will reject his Republican
challenger Mitt Romney, a former Massachusetts governor who failed to win the
Iowa caucus nominating contests in either of his two presidential runs, in
2008 and 2012.
But McAreavy is among many voters in midwestern Iowa -- which kicks off the
presidential nominating contests every four years -- who have abandoned
their allegiance to Obama's platform.
Their lack of support, revealed in two dozen interviews with Iowa County
residents, is at the heart of the president's challenge in seeking a second
term in what has become a very tightly contested White House race.
Sweeping in front of her house in Williamsburg, McAreavy recalled how she
had thought Obama would bring a politically divided country together and
that electing the first African American president of the United States would
be "wonderful" for this country.
"He didn't, he tore us more apart. I did feel maybe the world didn't like
America, but the world hates us more now than they did before!" she said.
The Obama boat is leaking.
Many voters who chose Obama last time around are quick to vent frustration
over the discrepancy between what they had hoped from a historic Obama
presidency and what actually transpired. Almost no McCain voters, meanwhile,
seem ready to cast a ballot for the Democrat.
Even if Obama wins the state of Iowa and the entire election this year, the
victory will be narrow and will lack the sweet taste of 2008.
Back then, Obama got 54 percent of vote in Iowa against 44 percent for
McCain. But in this race, no poll gives him more than 51 percent, and Romney
is only two points behind, on average.
"I don't think he pulled Congress together enough to do something. He's not
a leader," said McAreavy.
"He's more worried about his reelection. It infuriates me when after what
happened in Libya, he went to a fundraiser in Las Vegas."
Even the president's supporters -- and there are still legions of them --
are gloomy. Many cite Republican control of the House of Representatives
and its sizeable contingent in the Senate as extenuating circumstances. All
search for excuses.
"Every election it's the lesser of two evils," said Williamsburg librarian
Carol Uhlmann, a 72-year-old registered Democrat.
"In Afghanistan, why can't we get out now? Why are we over there and all
those little situations if we're not being directly attacked?"
Inside the Williamsburg Public Library, a woman playing with a young girl
has already decided not to vote for Obama, like she did four years ago.
"I'm going to go with the change," said the woman, who would only give her
first name Ann.
That evening, Romney addressed supporters just an hour's drive away, while
Obama gave a campaign speech in Davenport 80 miles (130 kilometers) to the
east.
"This is where it all began four years ago -- on your front porches, in
your backyards. This is where the movement for change began," he said. "And
Iowa, you will once again choose the path that we take from here."
But disenchantment with Obama is not the only factor explaining Romney's
impressive climb up the polls, as the Republican steadily builds his base of
support while softening his public image.
Romney was not the first choice for Sarah, an 89-year-old Lutheran, because
he is of Mormon faith.
But she has grown accustomed to the him thanks to repeated campaign
appearances that are a tradition in Iowa, which likes to see its candidates up
close, shake their hands and look them in the eyes.
Sarah said she became especially comfortable after seeing Romney's large f
amily -- he has five sons -- on television.
And she is far from being alone. National polls by the Washington, DC-based
Pew Center show that Romney's favorability ratings jumped from just 37
percent in July to 50 percent in October.
Even young people, among Obama's most ardent supporters in 2008, appear
disillusioned.
Sam Tracy, who delivers beer in Marengo, said he plans to abstain from
voting, disgusted by the political impasse in Washington.
In 2008, the registered Independent proudly cast a vote for Obama in an
election that made the history books.
"Based on what we were coming from, there was a lot of enthusiasm for
Obama, but now that he's in office, the shine has worn off," Tracy said.
--
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