Poll: Dems Not Rattled By "Centrist" Or "Bipartisan" Cabinet Picks
Still more poll numbers find that a solid majority of Americans are remaining steadfastly confident in Obama as they watch him assemble his cabinet -- including that group that some pundits have chosen to label the "angry left."
The new Gallup poll finds that 65% say they're confident in him, while 25% say they're not -- virtually identical to Gallup's polling back on November 23rd.
Notably, despite all the talk that the "angry left" is upset with Obama for his supposedly "pragmatic" cabinet picks and his supposedly "centrist" administration, Dems aren't bothered at all: Ninety one percent say they're confident in him now, virtually the same as in November.
While there's been a very slight erosion of support among liberals, from 91% to 84%, the numbers taken all together suggest that the "angry left" meme is more or less a fiction.
The "Angry Left" being upset with Obama for his supposed "centrist" picks is myth cooked up by the media.
December 5, 2008 11:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
We can thank the likes of David Sirota and the Open Left gang for perpetuating this myth and making it seem like a reality to casual observers.
December 5, 2008 12:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
No. We can thank the likes of the NY Times for assuming that OpenLeft speaks for a fictional monolithic "angry left".
After the outstanding work the folks at TPM did with respect to the fired A.G.. scandal, you'd think the Times might take a peek at TPM more frequently. Not that there's anything wrong with OpenLeft, or DailyKos, but um, isn't TPM the first blog to win a mainstream journalism prize?
December 5, 2008 12:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, gotta disagree with you there!
(I kid I kid...sort of)
December 5, 2008 1:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
If you take the time to look at the replies to Sirota's posts on openleft, he's not exactly well-liked there either.
I'm a bit surprised that people who criticize Obama's selections and express skepticism that "the vision from change comes from me" logic are dismissed simply as angry partisans on the fringes of the party. Statements like "Kucinich for SoS" don't speak to the legitimate concerns of people troubled by Obama's picks, e.g., the elevation of the same economists who gutted Glass-Steagall, creating credit default swaps not worth the paper on which they're printed, etc. Indeed such logic reduces the position of the person advancing the argument to the absurd rather than vice versa.
That being said, I'm glad Obama won and do enjoy reading the various points of view here. I for one would never make a blanket generalization that at once caricatures and dismisses the positions of thousands of people in a public forum.
December 5, 2008 12:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just what is 'supposedly' about calling Gates a centrist?
December 6, 2008 3:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
The hell you say!
It's the same kind of fiction published by the NY Times in the form of Alessandra (Hillary finally conceded!!! ) Stanley's "review" of Obama's national security selections.
(Sort of OT, but what the heck is the TV reviewer for the Times doing reviewing a national security press conference? If they're going to do that, get Richard Sandomir, who reviews coverage of sport telecasts...)
It's the same sort of fiction published by multiple media outlets over the last four years that proclaimed that the angry anti-war left held different views than the mainstream American public.
The bad part about all of this is that you just get numb to how bad political commentary has become.
The good part, of course, is that Republicans seem to believe this stuff. And look how well that worked out for them in this election. (even if Saxby Chambliss just scored the biggest baddest comeback win in the history of the republic....)
December 5, 2008 11:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
Anyone know a good "Richardson beard watch" web site? :)
December 5, 2008 11:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
If you find one, be sure to e-mail Greg with the info, ok?
December 5, 2008 11:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
Be our guest. Rev one up. And post a link!
December 5, 2008 11:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wow! Didn't know that I'm an Angry Leftie!
December 5, 2008 11:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
Because I have absolutely nothing else to add to this conversation that hasn't already been said, I'll resort to idiotic comedy:
Um, what if you're ambidextrous?
December 5, 2008 11:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well the word ambidextrous means "both as right" meaning that you can use both hands like non-sinister people use their right hands.
Sinister = Left Handed
Dexter = Right Handed
(I knew that Latin I learned in 4th form would come in handy some day... 35 years it took!)
December 5, 2008 11:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Adroitly put!
December 5, 2008 12:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Without wax even :-)
December 5, 2008 12:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sincere = Sans Cire = Without Wax.
When messengers took letters from one potentate to another the letters were sealed with wax to ensure they were not compromised or transcribed by the courier. If your master trusted you implicitly he would give you a message to deliver without wax sealing it. It was a sign of trust. Thus, Sans Cire becomes Sincere = trusted.
I am surely bored today...
December 5, 2008 1:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, I have in mind a post I could write, should it be needed, titled:
I rise to defend Obama.
Just repeating what I said in another thread:
December 5, 2008 11:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
Very well said, Thera.
I'm wagering strongly that Obama is a pragmatist. I believe that is where he operates from and I am thoroughly fed up with ideologues, left, right, or center.
December 5, 2008 11:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ideologues. No sense of humor. That's my beef.
December 5, 2008 11:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
That and the fact that they don't see problems as having practical answers. The answers have to fit their ideology. Cf. George Bush,Jr.
December 5, 2008 12:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
If that's your complaint, then Al Franken is definitely your guy!
December 5, 2008 12:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Imagine having an adult in D.C.
December 5, 2008 11:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Absolutely. The ideological battles are tiresome and nothing gets done.
I also think Obama is pragmatist.
December 5, 2008 1:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Give the media a break. Obama has given them very little to talk about since the elections. So they make up whatever they can to keep themselves busy. They gotta eat too.
December 5, 2008 11:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
Not to mention, pity the poor late night talk shows. They really, really need Sarah Barracuda to stick around the lower 48. . .
December 5, 2008 12:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am declaring a personal moratorium on hand-wringing "Angry Left" critiques of Obama's every move until he's at least actually in office.
December 5, 2008 11:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Just now had to remind someone worried about Obama's Cabinet picks that he's still not president and won't be for 46 days.
Hard to remember sometimes.
December 5, 2008 12:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think after 8 years of the GOPpers blindly falling in line behind anything Bush did without question, the media forgot what an engaged electorate looks like.
They don't seem to understand the concept that you can vocally criticize/question the actions of your president or push for an outcome - yet still completely back them up when they make a different decision.
December 5, 2008 12:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly!
December 5, 2008 12:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
OMG, he didn't pick Kucinich as SoS.
December 5, 2008 12:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am so furious with him! No more money from me. He must think we're fools.
December 5, 2008 12:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Kucinich is in line for Ambassador to Mars.
December 5, 2008 12:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
I LOVE the image of him shaking hands with this guy at a photo op:
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/articles/blog/1790000379/20080802/071506marvin-the-martian.jpg
December 5, 2008 1:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
DUDES AND DUDETTTES, I FOR ONE AM ANGRY ANGRY ANGRY at the press for focusing on the angry left, as in this post. WHERE IS THE PROPER ATTENTION THAT NEEDS TO BE PAID TO WHAT WE ON THE SEETHING LEFT ARE ALL ANGSTY ABOUT?
December 5, 2008 12:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Seething Left--I think I like that better. Can we all seeth together??
December 5, 2008 12:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
You already got a "Seething I" dog to bite some of that Mormansky buttosky all around you. You don't need no group stuff. Group activities are for pacified D's.
December 5, 2008 1:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
RAOTFLMAO!!!!!
December 5, 2008 2:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mad as hell? Youbetcha, but 100% of is reserved for the current criminal enterprise posing as a presidency, and any WHIFF that their crimes will go untried.
If justice can come, at long last, to OJ Simpson (he's giving his best B-Grade "judge, it waddn't my fault" speech just now), it can come to the perpetrators of torture, limitless wiretapping, treaty abrogation, lies to Congress, and obstruction.
December 5, 2008 12:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
What you suggest is a good test for measuring the new DoJ and Dem majority's willingness to expend political capital on bringing about real justice.
Of course, the MSM will cry "partisanship," and, in contrast to their fixation on Lewinskygate, reveal their own ideological commitments in the process.
December 5, 2008 12:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Trying to read the tea leaves has been murky at best. But here's what we have:
1. Eric Holder did not cut his chops appearing before legal authorities with 1,000 times "I do not recall, Senator." Indeed, his record suggests just the opposite. Mark Rich pardon? There is nothing is the Constitution that says we have to like it, but there is no legal standing for "dislike." The power is absolute. Move on.
2. MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell has reported her sources are all telling her to call her on Jan. 20, but make it in the afternoon just to be safe.
3. P.E. Obama has suggested a commission to "get the facts out." I am not opposed to this on principle. When the facts of tape recordings from the Oval Office came out during Watergate, the scandal assumed a life of its own.
It's too big for the DoJ. We need a special prosecutor, so both Obama and Holder are free to govern.
Pax,
M.
December 5, 2008 1:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't understand 2. What do you mean by this?
Densely in your debt,
CT Voter
December 5, 2008 2:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
It seems to indicate Loose Lips are ready to flap, but residual fear of treason threats from the VEEP's office are keeping them sealed until 12:01pm of inauguration day.
One thing is clear from P.E. Obama's politics: if we the People want these prosecutions, we must raise a Great Clamour and demand it.
December 5, 2008 3:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Seconded - the "wide latitude" stuff is a recipe for the status quo.
December 5, 2008 3:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
This would be outstanding, were it to happen.
December 5, 2008 3:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
I, OTH, am quite surpised with how many people around here in WV have come to me saying that they think that Obama is doing a good job already and that they do not fear the future so much (we had the biggest Obama sign in town in our front yard). Probably all of these people voted for McCain.
If nothing else, the 08 election has caused some unanticipated changes in attitude from both sides.
December 5, 2008 2:28 PM | Reply | Permalink