Two more polls, two more pieces of evidence that the Democratic National Convention gave President Obama’s reelections campaign a big boost. First, according to CNN, Obama now leads Romney 52 percent to 46 percent among likely voters. Before the conventions, CNN had Obama up 49-47. Second, according to The Washington Post, Obama now leads Romney 49 percent to 48 percent among likely voters. Immediately prior to the conventions, Romney led by 2 points.
So what exactly about the Democratic Convention did Americans love so much? Not Obama. According to Gallup, which currently shows Obama’s convention bounce at about 2 points, only 43 percent of adults thought Obama’s convention speech was “excellent.” The rest of America either thought it was “ok” (17 percent), “terrible” (16 percent), or had no opinion (24 percent). Independents had even lower opinions of Obama with just 35 percent rating the speech “excellent” while 39 percent said it was “ok” or “terrible.”
Now contrast those numbers with former-President Clinton, whose speech was rated “excellent” by a full 56 percent of American adults. That is 13 points better than Obama’s performance. To the extent that Democrats got a bounce out of their convention, it is not an Obama bounce. It is a Clinton bounce.
In his new book, The Price of Politics, Bob Woodward writes, “It is a fact that President Obama was handed a miserable, faltering economy and faced a recalcitrant Republican opposition. But presidents work their will — or should work their will — on important matters of national business. . . . Obama has not.”
Clinton managed to “work his will” and form bipartisan compromises with then-Speaker Newt Gingrich, who no one has ever accused of being shy about practicing partisan politics. Obama, on the other hand, has completely failed to work with today’s Congressional conservatives. The American people will eventually figure this out.
Campaign 2012
House: Wendy Rosen, a Maryland Democrat running against freshman Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., in the Eastern Shore-based 1st Congressional District, quit her congressional race Monday after her own party told state officials that she had committed fraud by voting in both Maryland and Florida in recent elections.
From The Washington Examiner
Editorial: Chicago teachers rain friendly fire on Team Obama
Byron York: With GOP jittery, Romney faces test of resolve
Tim Carney: Obama doesn’t believe in climate science. He believes in climate fantasy.
Steve Contorno: Businesses like Virginia’s legal climate, not Maryland’s
In Other News
Pew, A Third of Americans Now Say They Are in the Lower Classes: The percentage of Americans who say they are in the lower-middle or lower class has risen from a quarter of the adult population to about a third in the past four years, according to a national survey of 2,508 adults by the Pew Research Center.
The Wall Street Journal, Chicago Teachers Go on Strike: Teachers in the third-largest U.S. school district went on strike Monday, halting classes for about 350,000 students and casting an election-season spotlight on a growing national debate over how best to evaluate teachers, set their pay and fire them.
USA Today, Economists see Fed action as likely, but with little benefit: Many economists say last week’s disappointing report on job growth in August means the Federal Reserve will likely announce Thursday that it will buy more Treasury or government-backed mortgage bonds to lower long-term interest rates and stimulate economic activity. Yet they warn that uncertainty among businesses and consumers over looming federal government tax increases and spending cuts on Jan. 1 is likely to limit the benefits of any stimulus.
The New York Times, Communist Leader’s Absence Sets Off Rumor Mills in China: Over the past week, China’s presumptive new leader Xi Jinping, has missed at least three scheduled meetings with foreign dignitaries, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton last Wednesday and the prime minister of Denmark on Monday.
Righty Playbook
The Weekly Standard’s Peter Hansen asks Mitt Romney to get more specific about what he would do to help revive the economy.
The Weekly Standard‘s John McCormack notes that while the liberal media are demanding specifics from Romney, they let Obama be vague about where he would cut government.
The Washington Post‘s Marc Thiessen asks, “Why is Obama skipping more than half of his daily intelligence meetings?”
Lefty Playbook
Kurt Eichenwald, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, accuses Bush of being deaf to 9/11 warnings.
Firedoglake‘s David Dayen notes that Obama’s DREAM program is suffering from low application submissions.
Talking Points Memo accuses Romney of misleading America about his position on pre-existing conditions.
