The Politico's Jonathan Martin is a bit annoyed:
President Barack Obama and his team of change agents may think every tactic in their political arsenal is original — but in turning their fire on the capital’s process-and-power-obsessed political class they’re actually indulging in a time-honored Beltway tradition.
Pitting Washington Insiders against Real People, as Obama and his top aides have increasingly done in recent weeks, is often a refuge for presidents who have suffered missteps or drawn critical coverage, particularly in their early weeks in office.
Ha ha ha. Get it? Pointing out that the Beltway media is completely disconnected from the rest of the country isn't, well, pointing out that the Beltway media is completely disconnected from the rest of the country. Instead, it's a ploy to detract from its own messes. Because, you see, the Politico has determined that Obama screwed up.
Obama’s bemoaning of the echo chamber has come in response to tougher-than-expected passage of the stimulus bill and a series of botched appointments.
Attacking the Beltway media for being out of touch would be crassly political if it were empty rhetoric or an unsupported allegation. But as we've discussed repeatedly the last few days, it's completely true.
The polling couldn't be any clearer. Here is our own polling as a reminder:
Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 2/9-12. All adults. MoE 2% (1/5-8 results)
| FAVORABLE | UNFAVORABLE | NET CHANGE |
---|
OBAMA: | 68 (67) | 25 (29) | +5 |
PELOSI: | 42 (39) | 39 (37) | +1 |
REID: | 32 (33) | 42 (41) | -2 |
McCONNELL: | 22 (29) | 50 (46) | -11 |
BOEHNER: | 18 (21) | 55 (47) | -11 |
| | | |
CONGRESSIONAL DEMS: | 39 (36) | 53 (53) | +3 |
CONGRESSIONAL GOPS: | 19 (24) | 69 (64) | -10 |
| | | |
DEMOCRATIC PARTY: | 56 (53) | 37 (39) | +5 |
REPUBLICAN PARTY: | 31 (32) | 61 (60) | -2 |
And it's not just our own independent polling. Gallup is showing the same thing. The Beltway Blowhards can continue ignoring the evidence right before their eyes and whine that Obama is "playing politics" when he and his team point out the obvious, or ...
they can join us in the reality-based world and realize that their little DC power games mean zero to the outside world, no matter how entertaining imaginary San Francisco marsh mice might be.
(P.S. Barb also had some things to say about that Politico piece.)