Can Obama Turn Around His Rapidly Diminishing Support? We'll See Tomorrow

Time for a real change by admitting a bad mistake

Yesterday's L.A. Times reported that Obama is rapidly losing the support he had among white voters, never his strongest demographic group to begin with.

New surveys show steep declines in Obama's approval ratings among whites -- including Democrats and independents -- who were crucial elements of the diverse coalition that helped elect the country's first black president.

Among white Democrats, Obama’s job approval rating has dropped 11 points since his 100-days mark in April, according to surveys by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. It has dropped by 9 points among white independents and whites over 50, and by 12 points among white women-- all groups that will be targeted by both parties in next year's midterm elections.

Obama's strategy of wooing (angry, white) McCain voters has not only failed completely, he's managed to alienate many voters who were enthusiastic supporters by bending over backwards for the losers of last year's elections. Many former supporters feel let down and politically adrift by Obama's wishy-washy waffling and after seeing him surround himself with a gaggle of sleazy, Republican-like Wall Street operators and insiders from Rahm Emanuel and Jim Messina in the political department to corporate shills Tim Geithner, Ben Bernancke and Lawrence Summers looking after the economy.

Union members, for example-- one of Obama's core bases-- are starting to get wobbly as they see the Hope and Change they thought they were voting for turn into compromises with the worst elements of Republican Party corporatism. More and more union members are seeing Emanuel's push to please big corporate contributors as antithetical to their own most basic interests. There is a "mixture of frustration and unease, as union leaders are growing concerned that the Obama White House has not delivered as much as they had expected."

He hasn't been the kind of leader voters thought they were getting on crucial issues like Employee Free Choice, on trade, on immigration and, most notably, on health care reform. On many of the most fundamental aspects of domestic policy he has just continued the disastrous policies set in motion by decades of failed Republican rule. Anyone who imagined we were electing an FDR has to be extremely let down. Just 8 months into his term, his honeymoon is not just over, there are increasingly more people muttering about divorce-- and it's not just the fringe fanatics who made all the noise at the teaparties and town hall forums. Normal Americans are wondering if they made a big mistake. Peter Baker says tomorrow will be a watershed moment for Obama. Unless Obama can weasel out of it-- something people are also getting sick of-- Baker is right. "Obama faces what friends and foes alike call a make-or-break moment in his young administration. Because he has elevated health care to such a singular priority, advisers said he must force through a credible plan or risk crippling his presidency."

“It goes without saying that a lot is riding now on his ability to re-energize the health care debate and bring it home to a successful conclusion,” said John D. Podesta, who ran Mr. Obama’s transition and still advises him on health care, energy and other issues. “Nothing will influence the perception of the presidency more than whether he can be successful in getting a health care bill through the Congress.”

Recognizing the stakes, Mr. Obama has worked on a strategy for autumn to regain the initiative. He talked on Thursday from Camp David with Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, and Harry M. Reid, the Senate majority leader. He spent part of Sunday working on this week’s speech to the nation and dispatched top surrogates to the talk shows to try to reframe the health care debate. And he has two meetings scheduled for Monday with his health policy and political advisers planned around a trip to Cincinnati to observe Labor Day.

It's probably impossible for him to succeed with throwing Emanuel under the bus-- and driving back and forth over him a few times. After all, the shady and disgraceful deals with the Insurance Industry and Big Pharma are untenable if Obama is going to actually go for meaningful health care reform. Emanuel made those deals and if Obama reneges on them-- and picks the American people over campaign donors-- Emanuel will be crippled to wheel and deal in the future.

In Cincinnati yesterday for the AFL-CIO's annual Labor Day Picnic, Obama, once again, sang a sweet tune for working families. Now he has to deliver. His message is powerful and it's why he's president today. If he can't deliver on it, it's all over for him. Listen and tell me if this message is what he's been delivering: