Poll: Large Majority Supports Obama's Foreign Policy Views
So how big is Obama's mandate on foreign policy? A new poll from The Washington Post suggest that it's sizable indeed.
The poll finds that large majorities hold opinions about foreign policy that dovetail with Obama's to a striking degree. Despite the fact that a sizable majority thinks things are going well in Iraq, a bigger majority -- 70% -- want Obama to stick to his promise to pull out the troops within the next 16 months, though there are differences as to how quickly he should begin doing that. Sixty-four percent say the war wasn't worth fighting.
Meanwhile, a majority of 51% agrees with Obama that Iraq is peripheral to the broader war on terror, while the same number agrees with him that Afghanistan is the central front in the terror war.
These numbers remind us that the campaign's relentless focus on the economy has obscured the degree to which Obama's win also represented a big victory for Obama's foreign policy vision over GOP militarism, jingoism and faux patriotism.
Ok, he's got a whopping big mandate.
A real one.
December 16, 2008 10:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
And his number will go up further after his speech on Inauguration Day!
December 16, 2008 12:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Seems like a large majority supports Obama - period! Name the area. They support him. I love it!
December 16, 2008 10:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yup yup! A lot of people feel the same. I had one of these conversations with the clerk in the bookstore yesterday.
December 16, 2008 10:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
Now if we could only see a majority of the MSM show some unbiased reporting.
Oooops, I forgot --- there's so much about Obama we need to know: like what is the real relationship between Blago and him; why isn't he demonstrating the transparency he promised during the campaign; where was he really born; is he actually a citizen of Kenya; what does he secretly think about Marxism; etc.
December 16, 2008 10:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
I had those SAME EXACT QUESTIONS TOO!!!
December 16, 2008 10:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Keep hammering Mike - we NEED those answers!
December 16, 2008 11:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
As much am I'm ecstatic about having a real President I'm truly disheartened that our leadership has been so bad in the past years that even the semblance of competence looks like Nobel prize winning brilliance.
Fantastic and unfortunate.
December 16, 2008 10:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
There's more than a semblance of competency here.
But I must say, peeps, Commander CooCoo is having the worst lame duck transition I've ever seen and it couldn't happen to a more deserving asshole.
First they don't shake his hand, now they're throwing things at him.
I love this almost as much as I love the incoming government.
December 16, 2008 10:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
And his assholery becomes even more apparent every time he sits down for an interview! At this rate, his approval numbers might actually start rivaling Blago's! :-)
December 16, 2008 10:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
O! O! No shit! He was as obnoxious as he's ever been in that interview in Iraq.
I was almost ready to relent and call him a human being, until I saw him in the interview where he says: "So what?" when the reporter points out that Al Qaeda wasn't in Iraq until we were.
He doesn't have a shred of humanity.
December 16, 2008 11:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
I am so far from relenting on Bush! I didn't mean for a moment to suggest that Obama's performance has been simply nominal and all it takes is the briefest reminder of the arrogant weasel still occupying 1600 Penn. to get my blood boiling!
That bastard gets no pity and no sympathy from me!
December 16, 2008 11:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
Nope--not a lick! I'll never forgive him for the way he's made me feel about my government for the last eight years!!
December 16, 2008 11:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree about Obama.
I wasn't exactly in a forgiving mode vis-a-vis Commander CooCoo cause I'll never forgive him or Cheney or Rumsfeld or Rice, or Abu Gonzales, whose law license I still want and I'm not giving up on that, dammit.
But CooCoo got so mopey and so whiney and so teary for awhile that I was about ready to concede him a place with the rest of us as a human being. I am totally cured of that notion - totally! I don't know what came over me, but al Zeidi snapped me right out of it with his shoes! I haven't laughed that hard since at least 1999.
December 16, 2008 12:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Iraq poll makes sense - IF things are going well in Iraq, THEN it's time to get out. It's a Win-Win right now. BUT, if he starts pulling out troops and areas of Iraq fall back into chaos (specifically if US troops are killed) that will be seen as his fault - and it he then stops the pull out, he will be seen as insincere. So a WIN-WIN becomes a LOSE-LOSE if he can't shape the narrative in advance. Pulling out of Iraq will leave power vacuums some of which will be filled violently. We only have so much control.
December 16, 2008 10:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Oh come on. Didn't everyone swell up with pride at the USA chants every five minutes at Palin rallies?
December 16, 2008 10:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
Imagine that! Things are going well in Iraq and America wants its soldiers to get the hell out of there.
You mean they don't want to stick around and make friends?
December 16, 2008 11:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
Next year, American soldiers will have to get Iraqi authorization to even leave their bases, to say nothing of conducting operations or detaining anyone....
To me that means, "War's over", time to go home.
December 16, 2008 11:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
This is the figure that is really hurting Commander CooCoo. He's downright petulant on this subject.
sorry little POS.
December 16, 2008 11:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
Whatever.
Norah O'Donnell informed me (as the graphic was displayed on-screen) THAT A QUARTER OF AMERICANS THINK OBAMA'S TEAM HAD ILLEGAL CONTACTS WITH THE WILD HAIR OF ILLINOIS!!!
She added, as an aside, "Oh, and 60% don't think they did anything illegal".
The numbers from this poll? Whatever. The angry left is on the march, didn't you hear?
December 16, 2008 11:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
That's right, Norah --- feed the masses with biased reporting and get them riled up. That's how we'll keep them coming back for more. Gotta maintain a viewership if we're gonna get revenue from advertisers.
December 16, 2008 12:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
But can't she understand how stupid she seems when she "reports" this stuff? Isn't there some sort of internal alarm that starts beeping when she engages in such a raw attempt to shape perceptions?
Isn't there?
December 16, 2008 12:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
An entire 1/4?!?!?!
If Norah doesn't untwist them pearls, she's gonna kill the half-doze brain cells she's functioning on.
December 16, 2008 12:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
half-dozen
but half-doze has a certain aptness, when you get down to it...
December 16, 2008 12:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, it most certainly is apt. LOL!
December 16, 2008 12:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ok 70% think things are going swimmingly in iraq???????? Gotta love that right-wing corporate media. They sure are doing their jobs. Keep shoveling the propoganda. Going swimmingly my a**.
Things are so wonderful that journalists are hurling shoes at the king. Unbelievable. He does have quick reflexes though for an old guy.
December 16, 2008 1:50 PM | Reply | Permalink