It’s been one year since President Obama lost control of the message on health care reform, amid riotous town halls and alarms over death panels.
He has yet to wrest the narrative back, and now faces a campaign season in which health care, as well as other key issues, is increasingly defined more by Obama’s opponents than by the White House.
“A year ago, in a lot of ways, Obama was at his worst, and things were bad for the party,” said Cindy Rugeley, a political scientist at Texas Tech University. “He is getting more in attack mode now, but in some ways he doesn’t seem comfortable as the ‘partisan president.’ ”
With control of Congress and the fate of his agenda at stake, Obama is increasingly in full-throated campaign mode.
But a Gallup poll last week underscores the administration’s difficulty in turning its achievements into political assets. In 13 policy areas, Obama’s performance scored majority approval in just one — on race relations.
In every other category, including Iraq, the environment, energy, foreign affairs, the economy and immigration, Obama’s approval score was under 50 percent.
His economic policies in particular have cost him support among political moderates and provided traction to Republicans claiming his efforts have done little to create jobs.
“I think part of the issue where the bottom dropped out for Obama is among independents,” said Dennis Goldford, a political scientist at Drake University.
“Independents care more about competence than ideology,” Goldford said. “And the Obama folks, as far as they are concerned, just don’t seem to be getting the job done.”
The overarching issue in the campaign is the economy, and there Obama has struggled to find a strong, positive message to campaign on.
With the unemployment rate stuck at 9.5 percent and Americans increasingly doubtful about the prospects for economic recovery, the White House is trying to push a message that things are slowly turning around and will get better, eventually.
To add some zest to the message, Obama has intensified his partisan rhetoric — specifically using his predecessor’s name in campaign speeches and blaming Republican policies for the nation’s economic woes.
“They are not offering a single new idea,” Obama said last week in Dallas. “They are counting on you forgetting that it was a consequence of these policies that got us into this mess in the first place.”
Obama frequently reminds supporters that he made a series of tough, unpopular decisions — for example, supporting industry bailouts for automakers and bankers — to stave off an even worse economic collapse.
Republicans, meanwhile, seizing on public anxiety about jobs and the economy, are touting key Obama initiatives as job killers — including an energy bill, stimulus spending, small-business legislation and health care reform.
Alex Conant, a Republican strategist, said the White House is “desperately trying to reframe the election” away from a referendum on Obama and Democratic leadership.
“Unfortunately from their point of view, historically when one party runs everything, elections become referendums on the job they are doing,” Conant said.
