Politically, Barack Obama is in worse shape at this time in his presidency than George W. Bush was at the exact same time in his. The first week of November in the fifth year of his presidency, Gallup showed Bush with a 40% job approval rating, with 55% disapproving. The first week of November in the fifth year of his presidency, Gallup has Obama at 39% approve, 53% disapprove.
The glib response from the media and left to this kind of news is that Obama is not going to face another re-election. But that is all happy talk. If a president wants to pursue a second-term agenda, job approval numbers mean everything. Another worry for Democrats should be that Obama’s basement in approval does begin with the number three.
The circumstance both presidents faced and face are completely different, as well.
Five years into his presidency, Bush was fighting an unpopular war in Iraq that hadn’t yet turned around with the surge. Obama is dealing with an unpopular law, a debacle of a website, and a credibility implosion due to repeatedly lying to the American people about being able to keep their health insurance.
The surge eventually worked in Iraq, and until Hurricane Katrina, Bush was able to rebound a little.
Even if Obama’s “tech surge” on the ObamaCare website works, there is no surge that will ever save any president caught on tape relentlessly lying to the American people, and then lying about his lying.
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