Mullings An American Cyber Column By Rich Galen

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A Fly in the Ointment

Friday June 19, 2009

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From the Miss West Virginia Pageant
Morgantown, West Virginia

President Obama killed a fly during an interview with CNBC's John Harwood. Left-leaning media immediately proclaimed the slapping of the fly as further proof that Obama is a mystical being - not just your average run-of-the-mill President of the United States.

But others were not as fawning. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals - PETA - immediately called for Obama to be sent to Guantanamo Bay as a musca domestica terroristus.

Buddhists, too, claimed Obama had done damage to the universe. According to Wikipedia, Buddhists believe:

"The doctrine of rebirth holds that any human could be reborn as an animal, and any animal could be reborn as a human. An animal might be a reborn dead relative, and if you looked far enough back in one's infinite series of lives, you would eventually perceive every animal to be related to you in some way."

Yeah, well, putting that aside for a moment. Obama is finding out that honeymoons, like house flies, don't last forever.

According to NBC Deputy Political Director, Mark Murray, a new poll by the Wall Street Journal and NBC News shows:

-- Nearly seven in 10 Americans have serious reservations about the federal government's ownership stake in General Motors.
-- Almost 60 percent say that President Obama and Congress should worry more about keeping the deficit down - even if that means it will take longer for the economy to recover.
-- Fewer than half of Americans have confidence in the president's policies to improve the economy.
-- The president's overall approval rating is at 56 percent, which is down five percentage points from April.

The poll also shows that

-- Only 54 percent approve of Obama's handling of foreign policy (and this poll was in the field while the Iranian situation was still developing).
-- Less than half (48 percent) agree with "the elimination of procedures such as waterboarding to get information from terrorists."
-- Only 39 percent agree with closing Guantanamo Bay.

Whoa! Check, Please. What happened to that whole walking on water thing for Obama?

But wait! There's more good news. On the question "In general, do you approve or disapprove of the job that Congress is doing?" Twenty nine percent said yes, while 57 percent said no.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi's approval rating - in the wake of her claim that the CIA had lied to Congress - has dropped to 24 percent, five percentage points lower than the Congress as a whole.

Twenty six percent view Dick Cheney favorably, which is up eight points from April.

The White House can still take some comfort in the fact that 72 percent of the respondents believe that Obama inherited our economic problems, but that number is down 12 percentage points from February.

Decode? Obama is beginning to run out of time to keep blaming Bush for the economic situation. Sooner rather than later this will be Mr. Obama's recession.

Unfortunately for Republicans, 45 percent hold a favorable view of the Democratic Party but only 25 percent hold a favorable view of the Republican Party.

Americans are losing their zeal for Obama, but Republicans have not been able to find a message (or a messenger) who can scoop up those disaffected Americans and rally them to the GOP banner.

Attacking Obama doesn't work. Attacking Democrats doesn't work.

Maybe the GOP should go back to the old ways: You can attract more flies with honey �

On the Secret Decoder Ring today: Links to a Reuters piece on the Great Fly Murder; to an NBC analysis of the poll; and to the full results of the poll. Also a Mullfoto which is not good news for drivers, and a disturbing Catchy Caption of the Day.

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