WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Friday is U.S.
President Barack Obama's 200th day in office and his approval rating has been
slipping recently.
Growing public doubts on the way he is handling the
economy and health care, two of his major policy initiatives, combined with
other domestic and external woes, seem to point to a fact that the new
president's political "honeymoon" is probably over.
U.S. President Barack Obama speaks on
the economy at the Monaco RV vehicle maker in Wakarusa, Indiana, August 5,
2009. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>
ON THE
THRESHOLD
According to a new Quinnipiac University survey
released Thursday, Obama's approval rating has sunk to 50 percent, which is a
key threshold for a president's popularity. His approval rating was 57 percent
last month in the same poll.
Meanwhile, a CNN poll came out on the same day
reflected the same downward trend, though the numbers are higher.
In a recent Gallup poll, Obama even scored one point
lower than his predecessor, in terms of the approval rating in the first half
year in office.
Peter Brown, assistant director of Quinnipiac's
polling arm, pointed out that Obama suffered from bad grades on the economy and
even worse grades on health care.
Quinnipiac show that Americans now oppose Obama's
handling of economy 49-45 percent and disapprove his management of health
care52-39 percent.
A reminder: just back in mid-July, more Americans
approved his handling of the two issues than those who disapproved.
The current situation is a stark comparison with
where the president stood in public opinions when finishing his first 100th day
in office.
Back then, nearly two-thirds of Americans approved
Obama's job performance, higher than his four most recent predecessors in the
same period.
However, his current approval rating is mediocre on
historic standards.
A MIXED
RECORD
Assuming power at a time when the United States is
faced with "a worst economic crisis in a generation" and two exhausting wars,
Obama has promised to deal with all the challenges by bringing sweeping changes
across the board.
However, in his second 100 days in face, his record
is mixed.
In the economic area, the stock market has recently
rebounded after a disturbing dip in early spring.
Many analysts believe the risk of depression is gone
and the stock market may be in the process of bottoming out.
However, jobless figures are still climbing and a
short-term recovery is not expected.
Obama's ambitious stimulus plan will need more time
to show real impact to stimulate recovery.
Although many agree economic prospects have been
improved under the new administration, they are also worried about the rapidly
growing deficit and fiscal problems in the long run.
On domestic front, the president has just scored a
key political victory to have his nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the
U.S. Supreme confirmed by the Senate on Thursday.
As the first Hispanic sits on the bench of Supreme
Court, Obama's selection of Sotomayor are well received by the public and media.
The Clunker for Cash program seems to be working by
general consensus, while the auto industry now has a lifeline and promising
programs on credit and mortgages were adopted.
The bad news is his signature health-care plan has
been stalled in the Congress. Some analysts said the health care plan will be an
issue defining the Obama presidency, but the fate of the plan is still unclear.
In addition, when Congress returns from recess in
September, the president will once again battle with lawyers on energy, budget
and other thorny issues.
On foreign policy, Obama still scored well among
Americans.
The latest Quinnipiac survey show respondents approve
his foreign policy 52-38. Observers said he has made some new openings in Middle
East and has improved relations with other global powers.
More importantly, the president has changed the tone
of U.S. policy with new emphasis on dialogue and multilateralism and has thus
improved U.S. image around the globe, as a new Pew survey demonstrated.
However, as the same survey showed, the new attitude
hasn't won much hearts and minds in Islamic nations where distrust of U.S.
policy is deep-rooted.
In other words, the world is still waiting to see if
real actions can follow Obama's good gestures.
TOO MUCH TO DEAL
WITH
A closer look at Obama's situation will find more
profound reasons for his slip in approval rating, aside from the apparent ones.
First of all, to be fair, Obama was given the job
with more challenges than many of his predecessors have faced at the start of
their presidencies.
A research team from the Brookings Institution
concluded that although every new president is likely to face some of the
economic troubles, including recession, joblessness, inflation or deficit, Obama
is faced with the whole set of them.
Externally, Obama is not the one who started either
the Iraq war or Afghan war, but the United States is still paying huge price of
money and human lives for the two wars under his administration. He has become
the new target of anti-war movements.
Domestically, the problems with health care,
environment and education are too great for him to ignore.
Secondly, instead of dealing with the challenges one
by one, Obama has decided to go for an all-out solution.
The New York Times said his domestic agenda is the
most ambitious one since the Johnson administration.
Although the complexity of health care issues are
well-known and there are failed attempts to reform the health care system by
Democratic presidents in the past, Obama looks determined to make the health
care reform the signature policy of his presidency.
However, the president soon found himself under siege
on the issue not only from Republicans, but also fiscal conservative Democrats
and different sorts of interest groups.
He has already missed the original target of passing
the healthcare plan in the Congress before the Congress' August recess, and will
still face uphill battles when the Congress returns from recess next month.
In short, the president's approval rating may have
suffered from his attempt to deal with too much issue at the same time.
Thirdly, it is a historic pattern that a new
president will have a period of political honeymoon before his relations with
the public turning sour.
As some analysts point out, Americans had very high
expectations for Obama when he was elected, but they became disappointed when
some of his promise can't be delivered as pledged.
Obama's advisors are hoping that improvement of
economic indices in the next months will improve his political standing and
infusing fresh momentums for the stalled health care reform.
However, some economists have cautioned that jobless
statistics are unlikely to recover in the next few months.
In September, Obama will have to renew his push of
the health care plan through a skeptic Congress and try hard to win support from
the general republic.
Meanwhile, as public support for the Afghan war is
waning and U.S. casualties are piling up, the president will have a hard time in
the months ahead to decide on whether to escalate military efforts
there.
