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LOUISVILLE /JEFFERSON COUNTY
DEMOCRATIC PARTY NEWSLETTER
Week of May 22, 2009
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CLICK HERE FOR CURRENT LIST OF EVENTS
Updated on a regular basis
Bulletin Board:
Congress Sends Yarmuth-Sponsored “Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights” to President’s Desk
Legislation will protect consumers from arbitrary rate hikes and unfair practices
The
U.S. House of Representatives approved final legislation that will halt the
abusive activities of credit card companies that contributed to the
extensive debt facing millions of Americans. The Credit Cardholders’ Bill of
Rights, of which Congressman John Yarmuth (KY-3) is an original cosponsor,
will end the unfair penalties and retroactive interest rate hikes that
existing, outdated regulations allowed.
“The Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights will protect hard working people and families who played by the rules and paid their bills on time, but were still treated unfairly by credit card companies,” Congressman Yarmuth said. “Our economic recovery depends on ensuring that the American people no longer have to worry about being taken advantage of by their financial institutions. This new legislation safeguards consumers and guarantees their protection from unfair tactics.”
Included among the provisions in the legislation is a ban on most interest rate increases on existing balances and a requirement that 45-days advance notice is given on future interest rate hikes. The legislation also requires bills be sent at least 21 days before the due date and prohibits fees for bill payments made by phone, over the internet, or via mail. Many of the practices banned were among those deemed “deceptive” and “unfair” by the Federal Reserve.
The Senate passed the bill yesterday, and President Obama is expected to sign the legislation into law in the coming days.
Specifically, the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights will:
o Protect cardholders against arbitrary interest rate hikes
o Ban unfair penalties on cardholders who pay on-time
o Prevent companies from using misleading terms and damaging consumers’ credit ratings
o Require card companies to fairly credit and allocate payments
o Prohibit card companies from imposing excessive fees on cardholders
o Protect vulnerable consumers from high-fee subprime credit cards
o Bar issuing credit cards to vulnerable minors
OFF TO THE RACES
The Issue Democrats Should Have Avoided, By Charlie Cook
Two of the most commonly made mistakes must surely be "not leaving well enough alone" and "pushing too far." Sometimes, in partisan or ideological fervor, people just can't help themselves.
For Democrats, having swept Republicans out of their congressional majorities in 2006 and out of the White House in 2008, one might think they would be content with focusing on the formidable policy challenges facing them. But sometimes defeating adversaries doesn't seem to be sufficient. Some feel the need to humiliate and then prosecute them, criminalizing the political process.
Among the challenges that face our country, Democrats could be focusing on bringing fundamental change to our nation's health care system and moving the country toward energy self-sufficiency.
Social Security and retirement issues also need to be addressed, as well as the myriad budget and deficit challenges. Let's just say that Democrats have more to tackle than any time since the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
It would seem that focusing on the nation's great policy challenges would occupy them and there would not be time left to grind their opponents into the ground. It's questionable whether Democrats will have enough time to deal with these lofty objectives, and it's a wonder that some of them choose to waste time and political capital that could be used pursuing policy objectives.
For many Democrats, one of the more objectionable, even offensive, Bush administration policies was the use of enhanced interrogation techniques such as waterboarding. Experts on interrogation methods are split over the effectiveness of such measures.
Those from the FBI tend to think that they are not effective, that prisoners are willing to say anything, true or not, to stop such procedures.
Those from the intelligence community tend to think that the techniques actually work. Be that as it may, the practices have stopped and have been banned. The intelligence community will be largely committed to abiding by the same standards as the U.S. military.
Many on the left seemed to believe that, with the unseemly practices having been exposed, they needed to get a pound of flesh from the perpetrators, both those that actually conducted the practices and those behind creating the policies that allowed for them. For most people, the documents describing the practices and the memory of Abu Ghraib were quite vivid enough to give us a general idea of what happened, and why it had been stopped. Many liberals wanted more, including the formation of truth commissions, to settle old scores.
While most Americans accept the idea that the militias and renegade bands of other countries are likely to treat U.S. prisoners worse than we would treat those whom we capture, these practices still offer a green light to others to treat our military even worse. It lowers the ethical and moral bar, which is why many former military leaders, ranging from former Secretary of State Colin Powell to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who was a prisoner of war, oppose many of these techniques.
However, the insistence by liberals to keep pushing the issue has left one of their own exposed. Rather than dropping the issue when President Obama took office, they pushed it forward.
Now, the focus is on what Democratic congressional leaders knew and when they knew it. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., one of the more powerful speakers in modern history, is now weakened and on the defensive because she and others couldn't leave well enough alone.
Republicans seem to be delighted with how much Democrats, and Pelosi, are keeping the issue in the headlines. Glen Bolger and Jim Hobart from the Republican polling firm of Public Opinion Strategies have made hay of it, posting a piece on their firm's Web site that link it to the speaker's public image, which they obviously have an interest in poking holes in.
Their numbers suggest she could become a unifying point for the GOP, a foil that Republicans desperately need given the popularity of Obama. Pelosi would be well advised to emphasize her role as speaker of the entire House while lowering her partisan profile and letting others take on some of the more polarizing jobs. Democrats turned former Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., into a caricature of partisan folly, and Republicans now seem determined to do the same to Pelosi.
Whether liberals learn their lesson from this or not is debatable. Many are just like a dog with a bone and will not let go, no matter what.
Settling old scores to some of these folks seems more important than bringing about healthcare reform or a revamped climate change and energy policy. On matters like these, Democrats might be better advised to take their cues from the White House than from liberal bloggers appealing to their worst instincts.
With the Employee Free Choice Act languishing in Congress, labor groups say they "have been outmaneuvered so far on their top priority by their opponents in the business community." "'We were outspent, outhustled and outorganized,' said one chagrined union advisor who was not authorized to speak by name."
The State Of The Employee Free Choice Act
The Los Angeles Times yesterday -- in an article titled, "Labor
unions find themselves card-checkmated" -- made the case that "business
groups have
outmaneuvered workers groups, jeopardizing key components of a
congressional proposal that has been unions' top priority," the Employee
Free Choice Act (EFCA). "We were
outspent, outhustled and outorganized," said one union adviser. However,
lost among the doom and gloom was the simple fact that labor reform is still
vitally necessary and has a good chance of getting through Congress. And
while much of the debate around EFCA has been on the bill's majority sign-up
provision -- which would have allowed workers to form a union by
signing cards of consent -- there are other important measures aimed at
ensuring fair contract negotiations and instituting penalties that actually
deter labor law violations. Last week, Vice President Biden reaffirmed the
White House's commitment to labor reform, telling union members, "You've got
to climb up a hill with so many roadblocks on the way to organize that it's
just out of whack. ... If a union is what you want, then
a union is what you should get." President Obama has also reiterated his
support for the principles in the bill, saying, "What I think we have to do
is to find ways in which the core idea of the Employee Free Choice Act
is preserved."
THE POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVES: In place
of majority sign up -- which "probably
won't" be in the final bill, according to EFCA's chief sponsor, Sen. Tom
Harkin (D-IA) -- a few alternatives have emerged. One would involve a
sped-up election process, which advocates hope would blunt employers'
ability to intimidate workers from organizing. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
has floated another proposal "that would
use mail-in elections." Under the plan, "if a majority mailed the
ballots to the National Labor Relations Board, the
NLRB would recognize the union." Both of these aim to address one of the
core problems with the current system for forming a union: the employers
have nearly unlimited access to intimidate
-- and ultimately fire -- workers who want to organize, while facing
little in terms of penalties. In fact, a study released today found that
"employers threatened to close plants in
57 percent of [union] campaigns and threatened to cut wages and benefits
in 47 percent," while
firing workers in 34 percent of campaigns. The business lobby,
meanwhile, has
already committed itself to opposing any compromise. "Let us be clear
and frank on this matter;
there can be no acceptable 'compromise' on any issue of labor law reform
due to the very real threat posed by EFCA," wrote the Coalition for a
Democratic Workforce, a front group composed of the
Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, among
others. As the Washington Post Editorial Board wrote, "That
hardly sounds like bargaining in good faith."
THE CASE FOR ARBITRATION: Aside from
reforming how a union is organized, EFCA would also alter the manner in
which collective bargaining takes place. Currently,
only 38 percent of organizing drives that win an
election end in the successful negotiation of a first contract in the first
year, due to the
myriad delay tactics that employers use. It
actually took meat cutters at a Texas Wal-Mart
nine years after they voted to form a union to begin negotiating with
the company. As Cornell University organizing expert Kate Bronfenbrenner
pointed out, "There is no penalty. ... You can have an employer that refuses
to meet and talk and the worst penalty is another piece of paper saying,
'Shame
on you.'" To remedy this, EFCA would stipulate that if there is no
contract agreement
after 120 days, mediators would be brought in to aid the negotiations,
and an arbitrator would work through any final sticking points. Of course,
business is fighting to derail what it calls the "job-killing
binding interest arbitration provision," even when companies
consistently use arbitration in other matters. For instance, businesses
consistently put mandatory arbitration clauses in contracts with consumers,
so that they can
avoid class action lawsuits. In fact, companies include mandatory
arbitration clauses in
75 percent of consumer agreements.
SPECTER AND THE DEMOCRATS: Sen. Arlen
Specter's (D-PA) switch to the Democratic party last month
reinvigorated hopes for labor law reform. Specter is reportedly working
with Harkin on a compromise bill. "He's
willing to negotiate," Harkin said, adding, "Things are being done both
at the staff level and at the member level." Specter said last week that the
"prospects
are pretty good" for legislation coming together. However, other
Democrats are hoping to avoid the issue altogether, due to
pressure from the business community. "Sen. Harkin may be further along
the path than I realize, but purely from my perspective, I wouldn't say
we're even in a 'working group' stage yet," Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) said.
"I'd say the earliest we could [address this] would be the next work period,
but
I don't know if that's realistic." "[I]f somebody wants to bring labor
and management together to come up with a compromise that they can both
agree on, I'm certainly willing to look at that. But I
don't think that's what's happening," added Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR).
Politico reported today that Harkin "is holding
daily, closed-door conversations with interested lawmakers, business
groups and labor unions," and remains optimistic about finding a compromise.
"I remain confident that we can address these issues
without compromising the core provisions of the bill," he said.
If you lost your job today, would you know where to turn for help? The new online Unemployment LifeLine from Working America and the AFL-CIO is a one-stop resource center to guide jobless workers to local services and advice from others coping with unemployment.
YOUR COMMENTS
DAILY GRILL
"Vice President [Cheney] would not
substitute his own judgment for the professional judgment of the CIA." --
Liz Cheney,
5/17/09
VERSUS
"[W]hen [CIA Director George] Tenet insisted in his personal meetings with
the president that there was no connection between Al Qaeda and Iraq, Cheney
and Rumsfeld initiated a secret program to re-examine the evidence and
marginalize the agency and Tenet." -- PBS's Frontline,
6/20/06
************************
"You can't have a real conversation about abortion if you're afraid to
use the word. ... [Obama] not surprisingly failed to mention it [in his
Notre Dame commencement speech]." -- Fox News contributor Tucker Carlson,
5/18/09
VERSUS
"How does each of us remain firm in our principles, and fight for what we
consider right, without, as Father John said, demonizing those with just as
strongly held convictions on the other side? And, of course, nowhere do
these questions come up more powerfully than on the issue of
abortion." -- President
Obama,
5/17/09, Notre Dame commencement speech
Quotes of the Day
NONE THIS WEEK
Recent Senate Votes
Cloture Motion; Nomination of David Hayes to be Deputy Secretary of the
Interior - Vote Rejected (57-39, 3 Not Voting)
The Senate failed to get the sixty votes required to bring the nomination of
David Hayes to a full vote, making him the first Obama appointee whose
nomination has been stopped on the Senate floor. The nomination will likely
be brought up again later in the year.
Sen. Mitch McConnell voted NO
Sen. Jim Bunning voted NO
21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act -
Vote Passed (275-155, 3 Not Voting)
The House passed this bill that intends to modernize, renovate, and repair
public school facilities.
Rep. Brett Guthrie voted NO
Rep. John Yarmuth voted YES
Supplemental Appropriations, FY 2009 - Vote Passed (368-60, 5
Not Voting)
The House approved this bill to provide funding for the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan, security improvements in Pakistan and the national pandemic flu
response.
Rep. Brett Guthrie voted YES
Rep. John Yarmuth voted YES
LUNTZ MEMO LAYS OUT THE RIGHT-WING
STRATEGY: Earlier this month, right-wing pollster Frank Luntz wrote
a memo to conservatives laying out the strategy to block Obama's health
reform. He advised Republicans to fearmonger that "President Obama wants to
put the Washington bureaucrats in charge of healthcare." He also told
conservatives to raise the specter of "government rationing care" --
ignoring, of course, that
insurance companies routinely ration care, even for their policy
holders. Immediately, conservatives adopted Luntz's framing. "We all need to
be standing up and
saying no to a government takeover of our system," Rep. Eric Cantor
(R-VA) warned last week. Within 48 hours of Luntz's advice to constantly
hype the "personalized doctor-patient relationship," Reps. Phil Gingrich
(R-GA), Michael Burgess (R-TX), Tom Price (R-GA), and Peter Roskam (R-IL),
along with Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Grassley
all publicly repeated the vapid patient-doctor talking point. Luntz made
no secret that his aim is
primarily to obstruct Obama's reform rather than promote a conservative
alternative. His suggested wording, he explained, "plays into more favorable
Republican territory by protecting individual care while
downplays the need for a comprehensive national healthcare plan."
'SWIFTBOATING' HEALTH REFORM: On
Saturday, former Obama campaign adviser David Plouffe sent a fundraising
appeal asking supporters to help stop the "swiftboating" of health reform.
"As we speak,
the same people behind the notorious 'swiftboat' ads of 2004 are already
pumping millions of dollars into deceptive television ads," Plouffe wrote on
behalf of Organizing for America. "Their plan is simple: torpedo healthcare
reform before it sees the light of day by scaring the public and distorting
the President's approach." Indeed,
disgraced former health insurance executive Rick Scott, through his
group Conservatives for Patients Rights (CPR), has
released fearmongering ads that tell Americans they will "lose control
of their own destiny within the medical system" if Obama's reform passes.
Growing desperate to stall reform, CPR sent a fundraising letter last week
claiming that it had successfully persuaded Comcast to pull ads supporting
health reform, paid for by Health Care for America Now (HCAN).
The claim is a lie: A HCAN representative told The Wonk Room's Igor
Volsky
HCAN's ad "will soon return to the airwaves."
An Republican National Committee showdown over a resolution calling on Democrats to rename themselves the "Democrat Socialist party" may be avoided. Chairman Michael Steele has said it is "not an appropriate way to express our views on the issues of the day." One of the sponsors of the resolution said that the "language is being changed so that the proposers and chairman Steele are on the same page."
Aides to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) "held a private meeting on Monday with a bloc of prominent Democratic lobbyists, warning them to hold their fire or be left out of negotiations" on how the health care reform plan would be structured.
"Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has announced only one formal change" from Bush administration policy on immigration: limiting workplace raids. Under the new policy, investigators "must give priority to prosecuting employers" instead of targeting employees. "Obama advisers say more changes are coming to Bush's immigration policies."
"Advocates of gun rights are poised to win a Congressional victory that eluded them under a Republican president," as President Obama is poised to sign legislation allowing loaded and concealed weapons in national parks. The provision was attached to a popular credit card reform bill that passed the Senate 90-5 yesterday.
A congressional investigation has found that the U.S. Army "paid 'tens of millions of dollars in bonuses' to KBR Inc, its biggest contractor in Iraq, even after it concluded the firm's electrical work had put U.S. soldiers at risk." KBR "has been linked to at least two, and as many as five, electrocution deaths of U.S. soldiers and contractors in Iraq due to 'shoddy work.'"
Think Fast
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd "has admitted to using a paragraph virtually word-for-word" from TPM's Josh Marshall without attribution. Dowd claims she got the idea from "talking to a friend...but, clearly, my friend must have read josh marshall without mentioning that to me." The Times has issued a correction to Dowd's column.
Yesterday, Republican leaders "backed Dick Cheney's attacks on President Barack Obama." House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) said of Cheney's recent media blitz, "It doesn't hurt us, it helps us," while RNC Chairman Michael Steele remarked, "There was no wincing here."
"In every major case since he became the nation's seventeenth Chief Justice, [John] Roberts has sided with the prosecution over the defendant, the state over the condemned, the executive branch over the legislative, and the corporate defendant over the individual plaintiff, " writes The New Yorker's Jeffrey Toobin. "Roberts has served the interests, and reflected the values, of the contemporary Republican Party."
HUMOR
"Hey,
President Obama has found a way to quickly close Guantanamo Bay. He's
going to turn it into a Pontiac dealership." --Jay Leno
"Both President Obama and
Dick Cheney will give competing speeches tomorrow on national security
and terrorism. It's kind of like 'American Idol' except one of them got
voted off months ago." --Jimmy Fallon
"President Obama appointed Utah's Republican Governor Jon Huntsman as
ambassador to China, part of Obama's strategy to get every
Republican out of the country by 2010." --Jimmy Fallon
"NASA is repairing the
Hubble telescope but they're having some trouble as everything is more
difficult in space. It doesn't surprise me - it's not like they're rocket
scientists." --David Letterman
"A new survey shows that the happiest Americans are elderly,
male, and Republican. In other words, Republican." --Jimmy Fallon
"A new survey by the Pew Research Center shows that the happiest people tend
to be older, male and Republican. Two words for you, Dick Cheney. Okay?
Realize, he's peaking. This is the happiest he's ever going to be now."
--Jay Leno
"Vice
President Joe Biden is on a trip to Bosnia, Serbia, and Kosovo. The
White House is calling it 'Operation Keep Biden Away From the Microphones.'"
--Jay Leno
"Newsweek is reporting that at the Gridiron
Dinner, Joe Biden started talking and accidentally
revealed Dick Cheney's secret hiding place.
See, there's more proof you don't need waterboarding to get secret
information. Just give Joe Biden a couple of drinks." --Jay Leno
"Joe Biden accidentally revealed the location of the Vice President's top
secret bunker. The guy can't help it. But he did apologize. He said, 'I am
so sorry for the mistake. The launch code is 85334. It will never happen
again. It will never happen again. My Gmail password is robot23. What am I
doing? The house key is under the plant near the doorstep.'" --Jimmy Fallon
"In a reversal of his position, President Obama this week said he now
opposes the release of photographs showing terror suspects being abused in
Afghanistan and Iraq. Meaning we'll just have to wait for Dick Cheney's
Christmas card." --Amy Poehler
"Torture -- that is the story that just will not go away in this country,
and now with
Nancy Pelosi in the middle of it. Yes, Republicans keep changing their
story on torture. First it was, 'We didn't torture.' Then it was, 'Okay we
tortured, but it worked.' And now it's, 'Nancy Pelosi said we could! She
said it was okay!'" --Bill Maher
"Former
President Clinton and former President
George W. Bush are going to be debating in Toronto. I mean, believe me,
there's nothing more exciting than a presidential debate that doesn't count.
Whoa! Cut me a slice of that. People are saying, 'Well, what's the point?'
You know, the former presidents debating. I don't know about Clinton but for
George W. Bush, it's understandable. I mean, you just can't keep a
natural debater like this guy out of the
game." --David Letterman
INTERESTING
New book chronicles Kentucky’s sometimes pugnacious political past
Did you know that William Goebel of Kentucky remains the only governor
of a state to be assassinated while in office? Or that Abraham Lincoln,
now a favorite son of the Bluegrass State, garnered less than 1 percent
of Kentucky’s vote in 1860? How about Matthew Lyon, the congressman
who won reelection from a jail cell and once bit off the thumb of a
voter? These are but three of the little-known stories from Kentucky’s
sometimes pugnacious political past found in
True Tales of Old-Time Kentucky
Politics: Bombast, Bourbon and Burgoo, just published by the
History Press in Charleston, S.C.
In the book, author Berry Craig, a newspaper reporter turned history teacher, shares tales of a time when votes could be bought with a drink and political differences were sometimes resolved with ten paces and a pistol. “When it comes to politics and politicians, Kentucky has more characters per capita than any state in the Union,” Craig said.
Craig is a professor of history at West Kentucky Community and Technical College in Paducah, where has been on the faculty since 1989. He is a member of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, and KEA-NEA and is recording secretary for the Western Kentucky Area Council, AFL-CIO.
Craig also writes the “Kentucky Democrats Past” column for Democratic Connection, the Kentucky Democratic Party’s online newsletter.
In addition, Craig was a feature writer and columnist for the Paducah Sun-Democrat and Paducah Sun from 1976 to 1989.
He also wrote “Kentucky Backroads,” a freelance Associated Press feature column, from 1989 until 2007. The column focused on Kentucky history, often political history. Craig received the Kentucky Historical Society’s 2001 Richard H. Collins Award for the best article published in the Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, the society’s scholarly journal, that year.
He also contributed entries for the Kentucky Encyclopedia, and has written articles for Kentucky Humanities, the magazine of the Kentucky Humanities Council. Additionally, Craig is on the KHC’s Speakers’ Bureau and travels the state giving talks on Bluegrass State history and politics.
Craig earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Murray State University, where he added master’s degrees in history and journalism. He lives in Mayfield with his wife, Melinda Hocker Craig, an English teacher at Mayfield High School, and their 16-year-old son, Berry IV, a sophomore at MHS.
True Tales of Old-Time Kentucky Politics: Bombast, Bourbon and Burgoo is available in bookstores or can be ordered from the publisher at http://www.historypress.net/catalogKY.php.
The paperback book has 128 pages and more than 30 photos. It is priced at $19.99.
Obama Ratings Leveling Off At 35,000 Feet
Optimism about the economy could explain why the president's popularity is up. by Charlie Cook
So what's with the recent rise in President Obama's already high job-approval ratings?
From January through April, the Gallup Poll found that the new president had, on average, 63 percent approval, which is not as strong as Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Carter had at the start of their presidencies but higher than where Presidents Nixon, Reagan, Clinton, and both Bushes began. During those first months, Obama's approval rating once dipped as low as 59 percent in Gallup's three-night moving averages and twice reached as high as 68 percent.
Obama has escaped virtually unscathed from any number of embarrassments.
More recently, in 12 sets of three-night tracks, each of which included polling in May, Obama's lowest approval rating was 64 percent. His high remained 68 percent, but every night except one his rating was 66 percent or above -- suggesting that his approval has plateaued at a higher level.
Stepping back for a second to dissect the ratings, we find that in eight of the past nine weeks of Gallup polling, Obama's job-approval rating among self-identified Democrats has run at or slightly above 90 percent. Among independents, in nine of the 12 weeks he has been in office, Obama has averaged 60 percent or higher. Among Republicans, in seven of the past nine weeks, he has averaged less than 30 percent, usually 27 or 28 percent, although for the past two weeks his Republican support has ticked up to 31 percent. With Democrats running 7 percentage points higher than Republicans in party identification this year, Obama's sky-high approval ratings among Democrats end up influencing his overall score far more than the marks he gets from Republicans. That fact and gaining a bit of ground among independents explain Obama's solid numbers.
Why have they ticked up this month? The slight increase in the Democratic president's dismal approval ratings among Republicans in the past two weeks doesn't explain a lot. Looking at the demographics, the rise was proportionally larger among those who are 18 to 29 years old, live in the eastern part of the country, earn less than $2,000 a month, are independents, attend church weekly, and are married.
But the most persuasive answer to the "why the uptick" question might be found elsewhere in the Gallup results. Consumer attitudes have shifted strongly in recent weeks. More optimism -- or maybe less pessimism -- is the order of the day. As Gallup's chief economist, Dennis Jacobe, put it in a May 12 report, there has been a "surge in consumers' overall economic mood, but also slight increases in consumer spending and employee job-market perceptions. The improving consumer psychology may finally be producing some modest spending gains, but it will take a few weeks before it is clear whether this improvement was a pre-Mother's Day blip or something more lasting."
The public's cautious optimism is in sync with a growing body of evidence suggesting that the U.S. economy's decline has slowed considerably and the bottom may be in sight.
Since dropping to 6,547 on March 9, the Dow Jones industrial average has closed above 8,212 every day so far in May, at least as of press time. Whether the stock market's climb is causing greater optimism or simply reflecting it isn't clear. But, as the most widely disseminated economic statistic coming out every day, the Dow's performance can help create a mind-set -- negative when it falls, positive when it moves upward.
So the Dow and the growing optimism about the overall economy could be boosting Obama's rating. Given the enormous, even perilous, challenges facing the president in the coming months -- overhauling health care and enacting a cap-and-trade energy plan, to name just two -- he will very likely find it impossible to maintain his approval ratings.
The chances that the struggles over health care or energy could turn into political disasters are great. But the fact that Obama carries high job-approval ratings into these battles will give him a bit of what Austin Powers called "mojo."
Obama's current level of support is also a testament to some pretty deft footwork on his part. He has escaped virtually unscathed from any number of embarrassments -- from Cabinet nominees' tax problems to the Air Force One photo shoot over Manhattan -- comparable to some of the job-rating killers that prematurely ended other presidents' honeymoons.
But whatever the cause of Obama's good scores, his "arrow" seems to be pointing up, undoubtedly expanding his chances of advancing his gigantic agenda.
Buy American Mention of the Week, By Roger Simmermaker
NONE THIS WEEK
***************************************************************************
Roger Simmermaker is the author of How Americans Can Buy American: The Power of Consumer Patriotism and writes "Buy American Mention of the Week" articles for WorldNetDaily.com and his website www.howtobuyamerican.com. Roger is a member of the Machinists Union and National Writers Union, has been a frequent guest on Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC, and has been quoted in the USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Business Week among many other publications.
GOOD NEWS
NONE THIS WEEK
VIDEOS
NONE THIS WEEK
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