With the tragedy of a tax cut deal "compromise" that will benefit the Mega Rich pending to be signed into law, this should come as little surprise.
Gallup numbers
Liberal Democrats remain strong supporters of President Obama, but their approval of the job he is doing has fallen noticeably since the midterm elections. For the first time, it dropped below 80% in the week after the announcement of the tax deal he brokered with congressional Republicans.
As I have said repeatedly here on Daily Kos, I will no longer support President Obama if and when he signs the tax "deal" (as currently constructed) into law. It appears as though other liberal Democrats, such as myself, are feeling similarly (at least at this moment).
The Gallup data indicate that Obama's support among liberal Democrats was starting to decline even before he reached the tax deal. He averaged 88% approval among this group the last full week before the midterm elections (Oct. 25-31) and 83% the first three full weeks (Nov. 8-28) after his party suffered major losses in those elections, and then dipped below 80% the week after the announcement of the tax deal on Monday, Dec. 6.
I'm not sure where President Obama will go if he deserts his base. The Teabagger set wants no part of him, and as others here have pointed out, Independents tend to go where the passion resides.
If you demoralize your base and adopt the positions of your opponents, your base will have little enthusiasm. Which would mean, then, that you would not be likely to win back so many Independents who might view you as simply having "come to your senses" and gone further to the right. Those Independents would simply vote for a 'Bagger and leave "'Bagger Lite" behind when they have a chance.
To say I am disappointed with President Obama and his administration at this moment is not satisfactory. It doesn't capture the depth of the disillusionment and feeling of betrayal I am experiencing.
The meeting with the CEO's becomes one more capitulation that I have to register in my numbed psyche. Shock is gone, replaced with a kind of depressing ennui.
A key to his future political fortunes will be whether he is able to win back those disillusioned liberals
I can say with certainty that there is one liberal whom the president will not be able to win back at this point. 2008 is long, long gone in the rear view mirror for me.
I am a lifelong Democrat and progressive. I will work hard to elect as many good Democrats in the future as I can.
But as other liberal Democrats are feeling at this point -- many of them on Daily Kos -- I have lost my faith in this president. It took a long time for me to get here, but this is where I find myself now.