Love that word, "skosh." Much better than "smidgen." Rarely get to use that one in a sentence.
Anyhow, a little bit of information was called to my attention on Twitter, where I've been lurking around a bit trying to find a saner place to hang around. So I thought I'd pass it on to Kossackistan.
It seems like some of the dissatisfaction with President Obama has been more overplayed than Lady Gaga.
Read on...
This comes from a post made on the blog of Public Policy Polling, which you can read for yourself here.
The post puts the Chief's approval rating with liberal Democrats at 95 percent, with 3 percent disagreeing with him.
Three percent. Three. And every one of them is posting here!
More...
On health care 88% of voters in that group say they're with Obama and only 7% are opposed. We simply are not seeing any broad evidence of push back toward him from the left for not advocating for single payer.
... or, ostensibly, for not being a strong enough advocate for health care, as I've seen often repeated here. So no, Obama is not losing his base. At least, not according to this poll -- which is, of course, only a single snapshot, and probably has some imperfections that I'll hear all about in the comments section.
But I wanted to pass it along because the numbers are pretty high. Like Fox News talk show audience poll high.
A little more from that post: A more divisive issue than health care is the Chief's Afghanistan policy. On that issue, 68 percent of the same group (liberal Democrats) are in favor of the president's plan, with 22 percent opposed.
That seems about right to me. I'm about 22 percent opposed to it myself. But like Liz Lemon might say, this is not quite a dealbreaker for liberal Democrats such as myself or yourself.
But, you know, Politico and others will continue to fish for signs of disunity among Democrats. And Lord knows it ain't too hard to find that. Especially if you skulk around here for too long.
If I have anything else to add to this note, it's that I'm becoming concerned about this president. I've been talking to some folks who were more plugged into politics than I was during the Clinton administration and the portrait they're painting for me isn't pretty.
I would really hate to see another promising, idealistic, talented Democratic president railroaded into ineffectiveness by overzealous critics who care more about their own personal axe to grind than they do about having a Democratic president with enough support to carry out his agenda.
In short, I hope that, like Jon Stewart says, this stuff isn't kicking Obama's ass just a little bit. I believe he's sharp and hardworking enough to face down the Republicans and the diabolical machinations of Congress, but can he also juggle this with the grim treatment he's getting from some of the people who voted him in? Should he have to?
I think there's something to be said for supporting a president who has such a full plate.
Yet to do this in liberal circles often gets you called an authoritarian. A cheerleader. A corporatist. A power worshipper. In other words, a Republican.
Where, when and how Republicans became known for their loyalty is beyond me. See how loyal they are to this country and its citizens when a Democrat gets into office. It wasn't a month after the inauguration that they were flirting with secessionism.
So I'm continuing to support the Chief. Because I'm proud of what he's doing, and is still trying to do. He may need it more than we think.
SALLY UPDATE: Thanks for this comments section, y'all. I have to say, I needed this reminder of why I keep coming back here, despite the drama, the posturing and the endless ultimatums. I've been asking myself a lot why I don't just pack it in as far as DKos concerned, but y'all keep me hooked.
Thanks for the good vibes. Now let's go change the world!