President Obama continued his dialogue from last Friday afternoon when he addressed and ansered the Democratic Senators today.
What appears to be a truly cross idealogical movement to keep the conversation going has hit the web.
Using one of my favorite web tools demandquestiontime.com has generate an online petition to "demand question time" between the President and the minority party.
Have a look.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dHkyOUtmajQ1M3dzU21jc2RBQ3ZfTmc6MA
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
The American Taliban (for real?)
The American Taliban is a book being researched and written by Kos. In support of the book Dailykos has conducted a poll with self-identified Republicans and the findings are down right scary. At the same time a friend sent me a chart laying out the beliefs of the religious in the American broken down by state.
Some of the more worrisome findings.
QUESTION: Should Barack Obama be impeached, or not?
YES NO
39 32
QUESTION: Do you believe Barack Obama wants the terrorists to win?
YES NO
24 43
QUESTION: Do you believe Barack Obama is a racist who hates White people?
YES NO
31 36
QUESTION: Should contraceptive use be outlawed?
YES NO
31 56
I completely respect a person's different approach to governing even when I disagree. That is a theme I try to return to. However, the handful beliefs listed above go far beyond a disagreement over the best approach to lead. Impeach? for what? Contraception outlawed? Obama is racist who hates white people? Obama wants terrorist to win?
This is down right frightening!
This link from 538.com shows the difference between a pro and a novice. It is definately worth looking at. It breaks down the individual questions along the crosstabs. The point of the article is the uniformity of all groups. This is true with also the consistent theme that the south and males are even more "republican" than the republicans.
The corelation is striking.
Click on the chart below for a bigger view. A general finding the more religious a state the lower the iq, the more people in poverty, higher the crime rate, and less content and less healthy.
Take one part Dailykos poll above, one part Nate Silver's analysis, and one part the chart to the left and you get my wonderful blog posting. That and you also get Andrew Sullivans take
This, to my mind, is a function of ideology and religion, rather than ideas and politics, being the core elements of a party. It's also a function of Fox News creating a national ideology through a national propaganda arm of the RNC.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Bump and Trend
There is no reason (yet) to believe this is anything but a short term bump. It is fun to look at none the less. The graph depicts the two national tracking polls of President Obama's approval rating. The dates are Tuesday the 26 the day before the Sate of the Union address through today.
The initial reports were that he got only a modest bump of 1 point from the State of the Union. However, couple that with the events from Friday through Monday and it is possibly the beginning of a trend. Without having looked at the internal numbers too carefully, my instinct tells me many a number of dissatisfied supporters have been impressed over the last week and currently are back in the fold.
I also suspect that there might be some modest movement at the margins from independents. It is fun to watch. That is until it reverses.
Click here if the graph doesn't work
Okay if the graph doesn't show up, this is what it says
Jan 26 51% disprove 47% approve = -4% approval rating
Feb 2 43% disprove 51% approve = 8% approval rating
Totaling a 12 point swing in less than a week. Again the samples are small and the time frame is short, but definately worth watching.
The initial reports were that he got only a modest bump of 1 point from the State of the Union. However, couple that with the events from Friday through Monday and it is possibly the beginning of a trend. Without having looked at the internal numbers too carefully, my instinct tells me many a number of dissatisfied supporters have been impressed over the last week and currently are back in the fold.
I also suspect that there might be some modest movement at the margins from independents. It is fun to watch. That is until it reverses.
Click here if the graph doesn't work
Okay if the graph doesn't show up, this is what it says
Jan 26 51% disprove 47% approve = -4% approval rating
Feb 2 43% disprove 51% approve = 8% approval rating
Totaling a 12 point swing in less than a week. Again the samples are small and the time frame is short, but definately worth watching.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Act II
This afternoon President Obama holds a Q&A with America via YouTube. Which you can watch here at 1:45 Eastern.
One of the things I so enjoyed about Fridays Q&A is that it wasn't poll tested, it wasn't message oriented, or tv posturing. The truth in normal debates today both candidates are over coached and so very focused on poll tested themes that even the person you prefer is not fully realized.
Last Friday President Obama was not merely posturing, he wasn't attempting to stay on message, or simply trying to avoid mistakes as so often is the purpose of debates that result in the candidates talking past each other.
Hopefully we get more of that today. Hopefully we get more of that same kind of dialogue that began again on Friday.
This is one of the great assets this President possesses. The ability to carry on an adult conversation with the American people. This is not easy in the fast paced multiple challenge world in which Obama is the President. The American people are just as busy with just as many challenges (if not on the same scope). That may have one of President Obama's greatest failings over the last half of last year.
If I remember correctly Obama was out in front of the American people frequently in the first half of the year. To the point there were concerns of overexposure. I think the importance of this is that most people genuinely like President Obama when they see him and hear him. Except for the committed right wingers, most people like and trust him even when they do not agree with him. There is a sincerity and mutual respect that he exudes. We saw that Friday, while he was feisty at times he was always respectful, mature, sincere, and thoughtful.
One of the things I so enjoyed about Fridays Q&A is that it wasn't poll tested, it wasn't message oriented, or tv posturing. The truth in normal debates today both candidates are over coached and so very focused on poll tested themes that even the person you prefer is not fully realized.
Last Friday President Obama was not merely posturing, he wasn't attempting to stay on message, or simply trying to avoid mistakes as so often is the purpose of debates that result in the candidates talking past each other.
Hopefully we get more of that today. Hopefully we get more of that same kind of dialogue that began again on Friday.
This is one of the great assets this President possesses. The ability to carry on an adult conversation with the American people. This is not easy in the fast paced multiple challenge world in which Obama is the President. The American people are just as busy with just as many challenges (if not on the same scope). That may have one of President Obama's greatest failings over the last half of last year.
If I remember correctly Obama was out in front of the American people frequently in the first half of the year. To the point there were concerns of overexposure. I think the importance of this is that most people genuinely like President Obama when they see him and hear him. Except for the committed right wingers, most people like and trust him even when they do not agree with him. There is a sincerity and mutual respect that he exudes. We saw that Friday, while he was feisty at times he was always respectful, mature, sincere, and thoughtful.
Professor President
Below is the link for the Q&A session President Obama had with the House Republican caucus on Friday. I lamented that I wish it had been televised in Prime Time. Well. Ask you shall receive.
Speaking of Televised. It turns out that both CNN and MSNBC specially televised the event on Friday evening during primetime.
It appears CNN edited it for time and provided it free of commentary while MSNBC also edited it and provided the talking head commentary from the Usual Suspects.
Fox News, not so much. Not only did they not rerun it Friday night. They cut away from it on Friday as it was happening live. Roger Ailes was asked about that decision on Sunday and his answer was: Fox is the most trusted news network. HMMMM.
Speaking of Televised. It turns out that both CNN and MSNBC specially televised the event on Friday evening during primetime.
It appears CNN edited it for time and provided it free of commentary while MSNBC also edited it and provided the talking head commentary from the Usual Suspects.
Fox News, not so much. Not only did they not rerun it Friday night. They cut away from it on Friday as it was happening live. Roger Ailes was asked about that decision on Sunday and his answer was: Fox is the most trusted news network. HMMMM.
Friday, January 29, 2010
I wish this would have been televised on Prime Time.
President Obama meets with House Republican Caucus. Not only great viewing but a rare format that broke past simple sound bites and allowed for reasoned discussion. Unfortunately for the Republicans it wasn't a fair fight.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Thursday, January 28, 2010
President Calls Out Republicans on Filibuster
A picture is worth a thousand votes
If you couple this with the fact the 41 Republican Senators represent only 37 percent of the American people compared to the 63 percent that Democratic Senators represent. It is easy to see the absurdity of the tyranny of the minority is.
As a result in this Representative Democracy it takes a 65 percent supermajority of the will of the people to accomplish anything. This could well be why so many independants are so frustrated.
Copied from a post I posted in a Facebook discussion.
One of the difficulties in today's world is many people expect simple one sentence answers to very complicated issues. The reality is that many of our problems are complex and the result from many years of decisions and actions and in action.
The fact that we have a President that wants to have an adult dialogue with the American people is a ... See Moregood thing. The fact that too many people tune out instead of engage says more about them than it does our President.
Look at this post. It was a simple question are you watching the SOTU. How many engaged in conversation vs. How engaged in name calling.
Too many people, especially on the right feel that they blindly spit out garbage about President Obama, Democrats, and Liberals. For many years I have ignored them This last go around I have become more vocal about answering their idiotic unsubstantiated rants with logic (hopefully), facts and dialogue. The above passage was I added to a discussion that simply started with someone asking who was watching the SOTU.
This was just some of the babble going on.
Have these people simply lived in a bubble where everyone agrees? Have others been too intimidated to answer them? Do they simply not care?
The fact that we have a President that wants to have an adult dialogue with the American people is a ... See Moregood thing. The fact that too many people tune out instead of engage says more about them than it does our President.
Look at this post. It was a simple question are you watching the SOTU. How many engaged in conversation vs. How engaged in name calling.
Too many people, especially on the right feel that they blindly spit out garbage about President Obama, Democrats, and Liberals. For many years I have ignored them This last go around I have become more vocal about answering their idiotic unsubstantiated rants with logic (hopefully), facts and dialogue. The above passage was I added to a discussion that simply started with someone asking who was watching the SOTU.
I tried, but got sick of hearing, I , I , I , I....not we the people
He does seem quite self centered.
all talk, no show
I have a question...Michelle Obama keeps coming on and talking about Haiti and how it's so bad and all this and how we can donate to the red cross. I'm curious home much the Obamas how donated out of their own pockets to Haiti
This was just some of the babble going on.
Have these people simply lived in a bubble where everyone agrees? Have others been too intimidated to answer them? Do they simply not care?
I think supporters are generally pleased with last night
"Democrats, I remind you we still have the largest majority in decades, and the people expect us to solve problems, not run for the hills."
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
A round of applause
I think President Obama embarrassed the R's early on and they don't know how to respond.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
