Our presidential report card graders Jed Babbin and John Zogby had two different views of President Obama this week, with Zogby loving the “elegant” state visit of Canada’s young prime minister, and Babbin nicking POTUS for skipping former first lady Nancy Reagan’s funeral for the SXSW carnival.
John Zogby
President Obama’s self-declared successor and maintainer of the Obama Legacy took it on the chin in Michigan this past week. Hillary Rodham Clinton seems to be doing her best in all the states that Democrats will not win in November. A major factor in Sen. Bernie Sanders’ surprise win was his strong position against President Clinton’s and President Obama’s negotiated trade deals.
President Obama toasts Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. AP Photo
Nonetheless, what does Mr. Obama have to worry about? His opposition is eating its young and old and the president’s approval ratings are the highest since he was re-elected in 2012. He and his family displayed elegance at a state dinner featuring the equally elegant Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau.
Grade B+
Jed Babbin
President Obama made the best — and the worst — of another “Where’s Waldo?” week when nobody seemed to pay attention to him. Canada’s new prime minister, the liberal Justin Trudeau, made a state visit to the White House, but you’d have to have been a real news junkie to find any coverage of it. Obama and Trudeau spoke about what Obama thinks is the greatest danger to national security: global warming. And, of course, Obama confessed that he believes it’s our fault.
The president’s decision to skip former first lady Nancy Reagan’s funeral in favor of the SXSW carnival was the opposite of classy.
Libya is an enormous terrorist safe haven thanks to Obama’s military intervention. Continuing to demonstrate class, Obama blamed Libya’s devolution on our European allies, mainly British PM David Cameron, saying Libya is a “sh*t show.”
Meanwhile, Iran launched missiles labeled “Israel must be wiped out” and threatened to walk away from the nuclear weapons deal with Obama if further sanctions were levied. Neither event drew any reaction, far less any criticism, from the president.
Grade D
John Zogby is the senior analyst for Zogby Analytics and author (with Joan Snyder Kuhl) of “The First Globals: Understanding, Managing, and Unleashing our Millennial Generation.”
Follow him at @TheJohnZogby
Jed Babbin is an Examiner contributor and former deputy undersecretary of defense in administration of former President George H.W. Bush. Follow him @jedbabbin
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
