Will Obama Succeed in Maintaining His Approval Rating?

Do you remember the statement "It is the economy, Stupid…"? Maybe the same words are affecting President Obama’s approval ratings. They are slipping as Americans are worried about the economy. Obama’s approval rating slipped to 59 percent from 64 percent last month. All in all Americans still generally support Obama’s handling of the economy, however more questions are cropping up. One of the most pertinent was yesterday's AIG debacle. Obama is scrambling to assure Americans he is extremely aware of public outrage over taxpayer-backed bonuses for AIG executives.

President Obama has asked Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to look at compensation being paid to AIG employees for work done in 2008 and to pursue “every legal avenue to block these bonuses and make the American taxpayers whole.” Even New York Attorney General and future governor Andrew Cuomo says he may subpoena AIG over the bonuses. It is very clear to every politician that taking taxpayer bailout money and paying it to wealthy bankers makes them look bad. The issue for Obama is his own economic plan may get caught up in the outcry.

Simply put, his challenge is the possibility of having the public associate AIG’s taxpayer-backed bonuses and bailout with his own economic agenda at a time when Americans are being asked to mortgage their grandchildren. Obama has been spending money with numbers that are hard to count. Obama has proposed a $3.55 trillion budget for fiscal 2010. Congress has approved a $787 billion economic stimulus package and last week he signed a $410 billion budget bill for the rest of 2009. Considering the skepticism of many of the public, the last thing Obama wants to do is to have to defend bonus payments to AIG.

The question is, will Obama’s display of moral outrage placate the skeptics, maintain his approval rating and enable him to continue his economic agenda?

Comments

[WMBANZAI7:]

BUGGER OFF YOU BAILOUT BASTARDS
(Bugger Off, Irish Drinking Song)
WilliamBanzai7

HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY 2009

Sing along: www.youtube.com/watch?...

Chorus:
So bugger off, you Wall Street bastards bugger off! (Fook Yu!)
Bugger off, you deadbeat bastards bugger off! (Fook Yu!)
Like a herd of bloody swine that refuse to leave the trough
You'll get no more this evening so you bailout bastards bugger off

AIG you've been a lovely bailout zombie, but oh the time does pass.
So don't you all be bettin' the Feds won't kick you in the ass.
You've been a splendid bailout basket case, but enough is enough.
We'd take it very kindly AIG if you'd all just bugger off!

Chorus

Here's to all the bankers and lawyers who've been servin securitized beers,
and puttin up their knoxious greed and their stupid drunken schemes.
So leave your money on their table when you go,
tomorrow you'll have a sorry head and nothin left to show

Chorus

Here's to all them bailout bag ladies who might be waitin with pans in their hands,
and thinkin one of them might make a charmin one night stand.
Please don't be offended girls this song is not for you.
Uncle Sam will be happy to oblige you to get this nasty job through.

Chorus

So Timmy G you've been promisin these bailout bag ladies a night of lovin bliss,
but truth be told your far to drunk on bailout swill to stand up straight and piss.
So give it up you lousy sod you'll not be gettin laid.
and the sooner that you're out the door the sooner Uncle Sam will get repaid.

Chorus

So bugger off, you Wall Street bastards bugger off! (Fook Yu!)
Bugger off, you deadbeat bastards bugger off! (Fook Yu!)
Like a herd of fooking swine that refuse to leave the trough
You'll get no more this evening so you bailout bastards bugger off

Mar 17 07:05 AM

[fireball:]

i believe it will take quite a while for the exploited ignorant to give up on obahahahamahahaha. they will be looking for the free homes, free gas, free cars, and larger stipends for quite a while yet. the die-hard socialist liberals will still be muttering about the mess he inherited in 2012. he did inherit a mess but he campaigned for the job. this mess started at least 96 years back and has grown worse through congress after congress and administration after administration there has been very little relief from piggish washington. still the die-hards will be saying it is all bush's fault. i don't even like bush since i am a physcal conservative and a firm believer in self determination, individual responsibility, and personal liberty. i hate to feel like defending him but i tire of the liberal mantra. at least realise the blame rests firmly on both parties. turn off the boob tube and read a little history with a critical eye to get a clue for what has been happening.
the fundamentals of the economy are sound-republicans
the fundamentals of the economy are sound-democrats
i'm glad they are not bad yet.
i would laugh at the absurdity if i did not love my country.

Mar 17 10:42 AM

[User 375980:]

I believe the bonus payout excesses at AIG are just the tip of the iceberg of what is happening with the other Wall Street bailouts including Bank of America. Working productive Americans are bailing out the same crooks that destroyed our economy along with 45% of the wealth in the world. Now the American taxpayers and our posterity will be forced to live a far lower standard of living with reduced prosperity and opportunities due to the accumulated national debt to fund the bailouts and once again we will pay the price.

Washington has bailed out the banks, Wall Street & their Washington special interests and much of the cost is added to the national debt to by paid by this and future generations while real estate and investments continue to fall. I believe Washington plans to monetize the debt in future years while they tax and destroy our remaining wealth by depreciating the dollar.

To stop this wealth attack, the Campaign to Cancel the Washington National Debt By 12/21/2012 Constitutional Amendment is beginning now in the U.S. See: www.facebook.com/group...

Mar 17 11:09 AM

[robert.b.fe...:]

President Obama has more problems with his popularity than just AIG. The man crammed a stimulous bill of nearly a trillion dollars down our throats knowing full well it would only stimulate the friends of Barak. Soon he and his designated scape goat Nancy Pelosi will be back for a real stimulous package. Lets not give it to them since they have made such a mess with the first two or three or four (TARP, TARP II, Porculous I and Ear Mark Omnibus.). They must at this time quit blaming Bush as he was responsible for spending only the first $350B of TARP I and didn't sign any of the other garbage we have gotten since inauguration day. Now vice presiden Buffon Biden is yammering that President Obama inherited a worse economy than FDR. I guess he slept through the Carter administration. All of this will continue to erode team Obama's numbers and provide more head winds for their socialist agenda.

Mar 17 11:38 AM

[BelaOthello:]

It's amazing how the government has fooled the public into blaming "wall street" and companies like AIG for this destruction when it was truly the government that caused the disaster. How do you think these companies were allowed to leverage 5 to 7 times cash flow? In 2007 I spoke with an investment banker in Citigroup and they began lending money to corporations at 7 times cash flow instead of 5 times cash flow because Ben Bernanke was doing such a great job and keeping money cheap by lowering the fed funds rate rather than increasing it to fight inflation like what we saw with gas prices and what is coming. Now to avoid getting caught up in the additional money that was given to AIG which went to save foreign banks they release the bonus information first (150 million in bonuses vs 100 plus billion to foreign banks and Goldman Sachs--the treasury sec former employer, Merrill, BofA etc..)

Mar 17 11:50 AM

[TXDESERTFOX:]

Oil Patch Bumper Sticker Seen in Houston, Texas:

"How's That Changey Thing Going For Ya?"

Mar 17 12:02 PM

[AndrewBaker:]

O'k, I'm a sore bear, but on what is this stock market rally based? I want to go long when I know that the stocks I'm buying are going up in price because the businesses concerned are doing well and likely to do better; whilst the truth is, right now, that we have not yet seen the worst. Fine, there are people out there who will buy and hold for the long term (which, to make a real return should be an intention of 10 years at least, the way things are), but the rhetoric that Obama and his friends have been giving out recently has helped fuel an unrealistic belief amongst some that the recovery has started already. Presidential approval will suffer in spades when this market turns back down and wipes out the "profit" that many of his current supporters believe they have made. And the bailout funds that went with the rhetoric? The grandchildren will still be paying that bill many years from now.

Mar 17 03:55 PM