Thursday, 17 December 2009 14:58 Last Updated on Friday, 18 December 2009 20:02
Check out the opinion section of today’s Wall Street Journal for physician and Republican senator Tom Coburn’s take on the “scary” Reid health bill:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514404574588842779569168.html
With opposition growing against the President’s plans for health care reform, it is not surprising that Obama’s approval rating at the end of his first year has fallen below 50% for the first time. At 47%, the President’s approval rating is below the first year approval rating of any modern President.
The last President to garner a first year approval rating below 50% was Ronald Reagan in 1981 at 49%. Of course, Reagan ended up fairly popular by modern standards, with his approval rating peaking near 65% and ending just under 60% when he left office. The only modern President to end his Presidency with an approval rating north of 60% was Bill Clinton, whose approval rating bottomed at 40% and then steadily climbed throughout his two terms as he transformed himself into a true centrist leader. It is no coincidence that the plummeting approval of both Clinton and Obama coincided with a fight to nationalize health care. With so much going wrong for Obama in his first year, the surprise may be that he finds his way to the middle and pulls a page from the resurgent Clinton playbook. On second thought, Jimmy Carter’s approval rating bottomed at 30% mid way through his term and finished just above 30% when he left office. Which script Mr. President?