Yesterday, I published a diary regarding the fact that President Obama's job approval rating had climbed back to 54% while his disapproval had dropped to 40%. Many applauded the public's willingness to support the president at such a crucial time of policymaking (i.e. the health care debate). Others, however, dismissed the numbers as "statistical noise".
Well, my friends, Gallup has done it again. No noise, but rather music to my ears and a solid upward trend for President Obama:
Gallup Obama Job Approval: 55%
Gallup Obama Disapproval: 39%
In yesterday's diary, I queried out loud regarding the potential reasons for this uptrend in public approval i.e:
- Some positive economic news on the housing, construction and productivity fronts.
- Progressives finally fighting back at town halls...and the MSM actually covering it.
- The American public getting behind its president and realizing that health care reform is a crucial element to social and economic stability in the United States.
More and more, I am willing to believe the latter reasons. For far too long, Democrats were willing to allow the Right to snatch the narrative and twist health care reform into something it isn't (socialism, communism, government power grab, death panels, etc.). Perhaps we thought that the public would just dismiss such lunacy and accept that true health care reform was good for the country.
We were wrong. Too many were lured into the Beck/Limbaugh mode of thinking that believes that EVERYTHING government is wasteful and useless.
Remember that scene in The American President when Lewis (Michael J. Fox) told President Shepherd that Americans are so thirsty for leadership, they will crawl through the desert looking for water – and when they don’t find water, they’ll drink the sand?
President Shepherd said,
"They don’t drink the sand because they’re thirsty. They drink it because they don’t know the difference."
Well, my friends, we fought back - and now the country knows the difference and is following actual leadership. This is the template for success regarding health care reform. Let's keep the train moving until that reform is passed and signed!