President Obama’s latest executive orders on housing and student loans may have fallen flat, but if he does win reelection, this week may mark the beginning of his comeback. According to Gallup, Obama’s approval rating nudged up to 43% after averaging below 40% the two previous weeks. Gallup’s Jeffrey Jones attributes the rise to, “two recent major foreign policy events — the death of Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi and Obama’s announcement that virtually all U.S. troops would be withdrawn from Iraq by Dec. 31. Additionally, the U.S. stock market has shown gains this month, particularly in the past week.”
This sounds about right. The markets’ rebound does not appear to have come from anything Obama has done. Instead, news from across the pond, that European Union leaders have reached an agreement to help ease the Greek debt crisis, has sent markets up. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.9% yesterday, and is on track for its biggest monthly gain in 25 years. A Commerce Department report released yesterday, showed that the U.S. economy grew by 2.5% this quarter, which, while not great, is still much better than many analysts were predicting.
The economy is nowhere near where Obama promised, but it appears to have leveled out. Another recession would have doomed Obama’s 2012 chances. It now appears he will have a much stronger chance.
Around the Bigs
The Washington Examiner, GOP says health care law undermines marriage: A House Government Oversight and Reform panel released a 22-page report yesterday, showing that Obamacare created a new tax penalty that will discourage people from getting married.
The Washington Post, State spending on Medicaid up sharply: As federal stimulus dollars expired, state spending on Medicaid rose 29% this year, adding new pressures to already strained state budgets.
The Wall Street Journal, Taxes Remain Stumbling Block For Deficit Panel: Republicans rejected a Democratic debt reduction plan that would have raised taxes by $1.3 trillion over 10 years. The Democrats rejected a Republican plan that cut $2.2 trillion in spending.
The New York Times, Obama Backers Tied to Lobbies Raise Millions: Despite his promise not to take money from lobbyists, at least 15 of Obama’s biggest donors are involved in lobbying the federal government.
The New York Times, Economy Alters How Americans Are Moving: According to an analysis of new data from the Census Bureau and the Internal Revenue Service, millions of Americans have become frozen in place, unable to sell their homes and unsure they would find jobs elsewhere.
Politico, Political advertising data may go online: The FCC is considering a rule that would require broadcasters to post the details of political media buys online.
Righty Playbook
Big Government‘s Joel Pollack says the Occupy movement is stealing a page from Hamas’ playbook: “How #occupy uses human shields- veterans, women, the young, the old, the disabled.”
In The Wall Street Journal, Allan Meltzer identifies four reasons why Keynesians keep getting everything wrong.
The Corner‘s Daniel Foster flags a CBO study showing the richest 20 percent of Americans saw their share of government transfer payments increase, and writes: “Liberals are likely to use the CBO report to buttress the case for taxing “the rich” more. But they ought to think instead about subsidizing them less.”
Lefty Playbook
Bob Shrum makes the case that populism is Obama’s path to victory: “Don’t forget how FDR fought back in 1936 against the “forces of greed and privilege.” Don’t forget that in the late summer of 2000, Al Gore achieved a 16- to 22-point turnaround in the polls as he spoke the populism he truly felt, culminating in his acceptance address at the Democratic convention.”
Slate‘s Dahlia Lithwick celebrates the Occupy movement’s lack of coherence: “Occupy Wall Street is not a movement without a message. It’s a movement that has wisely shunned the one-note, pre-chewed, simple-minded messaging required for cable television as it now exists.”
At Daily Kos, Michael Moore talks about life among the 1%: “Capitalism is a system, a pyramid scheme of sorts, that exploits the vast majority so that the few at the top can enrich themselves more.”
