The popular vote
Does the media hype around Obama tell us that he is one of our most popualr modern presidents? I don't think so. The media does love him; i doubt the general public does. Inauguration-coverage of the public is also a biased sample. If one interviews people as they come to a concert by a particular rock-band, a vast majority of them will be fans. This cannot be extrapolated to the general public.
Of course, it is true that the vast majority of Americans do not think that Obama's brand of socialism is some major evil. I guess the general viewpoint could be something like: "a decent enough guy, who seems thoughtful, who seems willing to tackle the country's problems, and who should be given an opportunity to do so". This does not mean that the GOP-voters among them want to change their votes. Most of them would still prefer McCain (or Huckabee, etc.), but do not think ill of Obama, and are approach him with the spirit of: "let's work together".Obama is in a honeymoon period.
Today, I think the best objective measure of his more enduring (non-honeymoon) popularity is to look at people who actually voted for him. He got 53% of the popular vote. This is a good number, but nowhere near a "vast" majority. For some historical perspective, here is the percent of popular vote to winners of the last few elections:
Of course, it is true that the vast majority of Americans do not think that Obama's brand of socialism is some major evil. I guess the general viewpoint could be something like: "a decent enough guy, who seems thoughtful, who seems willing to tackle the country's problems, and who should be given an opportunity to do so". This does not mean that the GOP-voters among them want to change their votes. Most of them would still prefer McCain (or Huckabee, etc.), but do not think ill of Obama, and are approach him with the spirit of: "let's work together".Obama is in a honeymoon period.
Today, I think the best objective measure of his more enduring (non-honeymoon) popularity is to look at people who actually voted for him. He got 53% of the popular vote. This is a good number, but nowhere near a "vast" majority. For some historical perspective, here is the percent of popular vote to winners of the last few elections:
- 2008: Obama - 53%
- 2004: G.W.Bush - 2nd term - 51% [Remember Bush stupidly talking about how he was going to use this great "political capital"]
- 2000: G.W.Bush - 1st term - 48%
- 1996: Clinton - 2nd term 48%
- 1992: Clinton - 1st term 43% [Not commensurate, because Perot took about 19%]
- 1988: Bush Sr. - 53% .... .... Look at that! Who would have thought that boring old Bush Sr. got the same as what Obama got
- 1984: Reagan - 2nd term 59% ... Now we're talking about a real sweep!
- 1980: Reagan - 1st term 51%
- 1976: Carter - 50% ... Not too bad for him; that's better than Clinton's second term
- 1972: Nixon - 2nd term 61% ... who would have thunk it! He even beat the gipper! Ended up impeached.
- 1968: Nixon - 1st term 43% [Not commensurate, because a third party took 13%
- 1964: Lyndon Johnson 61% [Barry Goldwater got just 38%... shame on America! But, it shows that we are not at some extreme point in our history]
- 1960: JFK 50% [For all the talk of Camelot, and all the excitement about Jackie's wardrobe, the split on votes was 49.7% to JFK and 49.5% to Nixon]
posted by SN at
8:04 AM
1 Comments:
Having knowledge of history does help define a proper perspective. Of course, such a perspective must take into account many factors. You have highlighted one: The claim that President Obama has been swept into office on a tide of popular support. He hasn't--despite the dismaying performance of both the previous administration and Obama's opponent.
I would suggest that the fundamental principles of today's politicians are no different than they were in the time of Presidents Johnson and Nixon: mysticism, altruism, and statism. What is becoming worse is the effects of those fundamentals. They are seeping deeper and deeper into the culture.
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Burgess Laughlin, at 3:07 PM
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