No president since FDR has won re-election with unemployment over 7.2%. Is President Obama doomed?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Here's something that ought to keep President Obama up at night: No president since FDR has won re-election with unemployment over 7.2%.
The unemployment rate may have dropped to 8.6% in November, but the picture isn't nearly as rosy as the White House would like us to believe.
Yes, it's the lowest it's been since March 2009, and it's getting closer to the 7.8% rate we had when Obama took office, but that's where the good news ends.
This job market still has a long way to go to recover from the financial crisis. A very long way.
In total, 8.8 million jobs have been lost since the recession started, and fewer than a third of those have been recovered.
More than 13 million people are still unemployed, and 43% of them have been out of work for more than six months.
Plus the current unemployment rate of 8.6% isn't even as good as it seems. That's because a big part of the rate decrease is due to more than 300,000 discouraged workers giving up entirely on their job searches and simply dropping out of the workforce. It's not due to job creation.
Speaking of job creation, employers added only 120,000 jobs in October. That's well below what economists say is needed just to keep up with population growth.
So numbers aside, the job outlook remains pretty bleak. Add in the disastrous housing market and the European debt crisis, which could pull our economy down even further, and Obama has his work cut out for him.
A recent CNN-Opinion Research Corporation poll shows only 15% of Americans say economic conditions are good. Six out of seven people say conditions are poor, with a majority saying "very poor."
Here's my question to you: No president since FDR has won re-election with unemployment over 7.2%. Is President Obama doomed?
Tune in to "The Situation Room" at 5 p.m. ET to see if Jack reads your answer on the air.
And we'd love to know where you're writing from, so please include your city and state with your comment.
@jackcafferty on Twitter
More importantly, if unemployment stays about 8.5%, foreclosures remain high, and the real estate market continues to tank are WE doomed. Forget the politicians, we all lose.
Jack, Why are you bringing this up?
The current regime in power will just do what they want on the Unemployment #'s... Like the last few months, Just take 5 million off the Unemployment count add 5 million part-time/minimum wage jobs, remove a few million unemployed count, by saying they are no longer looking for work.
Unemployment rate drops to 5%, BLS broadcasts the phony propaganda to the public and Obama can boast he saved the economy. Re-election Shoe-In!
Geez Jack – You are such a pessimist! I for one see things improving under Obama's watch. Unemployment is getting better, slow but sure. My company is growing and we are hiring and always looking for talent. I see consumer spending is up this yea – all good for business. And my favorite improvement of all is that the number of illegals crossing the border has dropped 25% in the last year. Wonderful. All this under Obama's term. Don't be such a Grinch Jack. We are lucky to live here and life is good!
I can only hope so Jack. America's ship of state is headed for the rocks and nobody's on the bridge. The unemployment rate is a call to man the life boats.
Gary in Scottsdale, Arizona
Not doomed, no President since FDR ever inherited a near depression, 2 wars, & 10 years of tax cuts for the rich all at the same time.
Given what there is to choose from on GOP side, I certainly hope not. Heaven help us all if the GOP EVER controls both houses of Congress and the White House again! We still haven't recovered from the lat time!
Jack, FDR faced the same challanges that Obama has following a Republican into office that destroyed the economy. FDR broke the laws of the country to get jobs created where as Obama is trying to work with a Do Nothing Republican Congress. Maybe he shopuld have force them into exile until we were back on our feet to destroy it again.
Of course he's doomed, and it's not just because of his failure to get the job market going. We were laughing out loud over the weekend watching the news and seeing that Obama was counselling the Europeans on how to fix their economy.....with what he's done to our economy, Obama should be looking for advice, not giving it..........
He was doomed when he sent most of our manufacturing jobs overseas, including those employed in the service industry. His refusal to recognize we have a decaying infrastructure, where many could work doesn’t help his chances.
Aside from unemployment, he created a fifteen trillion debt with Obama Care.
How can you reelect this guy?
Got to go Jack, Rush is on the Radio.
No! No President given all of the problems Obama inherited could have fixed unemployment in 4 years! not even FDR with an uncooperative Congress in the 30's! Look back at the support that FDR had back then, Obama gets none of that.
If Americans have a problem with unemployment they should complain to Congress not the President. March outside of Congress, get their voices heard. Changing the President in 2012 will not fix the problem, it will make matters worst and create delays!
This may be a first. Republicans seem determined to see that Obama gets re-elected. Herman Pokeman, Donald The Apprentice, Newt The Grinch, Mitt & Jon the Mormon-bots, Michelle the Ditz, Perry The Joker. Obama may not be doomed no matter what the unemployment number.
That's why the BLS will continue to fudge the numbers. The most recent figures include the footnote indicating that 315K fewer persons are in the workforce; hence, a smaller percentage of workers are 'unemployed' - apparently, if you're unemployed long enough, you are no longer 'unemployed'!
If a sensible Republican was campaigning for the nomination President Obama would be toast. But given the stable of Republicans wiht their hats in the ring I give Obama the edge. With Republicans like Jon Huntsman running at a mere 2% I think Obama has a good chance. Republicans don't realize that simply hating Obama is not enough. It's like the helmsman of the Titanic intentionally ramming the iceberg and sinking the Titanic along with all the passengers to get the captain.
Just because the unemployment rate may be higher than 7.2% is no reason to elect a person of the party who, by and large voted the way Bush wanted to get us in such shape. Those who elect Republicans are doomed to suffer under their policies again, (tax breaks for the wealthy). I suspect more voters have Googled their favorite TV reality people than any politician to see what they have done in the past.
Nope. In this case the bad leverage is working for him. Unless he sinks to below 20% of the vote in the finals. Then he is in trouble. Doug. Pepperell, MA.
You know Jack the economy is pretty bad off. This did not happen over night though and it did not happen because of Obama. This was a disaster that took years to cultivate and many politicians to make it happen. The excessive spending and the poor mismanagement by our government is what lead us to where we are today. I don't think any reasonable and prudent person thinks that one man can change all that. No Obama is not worried. The republicans have no one better to offer or any better plans.
That remains to be seen.
There are still an incredibly large number of people, who thinks he walks on water. While I see no explanation of that phenomenon, it does exist.
For me personally, I think Obama is the worst President in the history of this country, bar none!
Sounds like a quite lopsided question to me. When Senate and Congressional republicans do nothing but obstruct the middle class tax breaks, refuse to put more money into infrastructure solely to hurt the president, and pander to the rich, I think the blame is filtering down to where it truly belongs. I think as the campaign gets moving – the distinction will get clearer and clearer, that intentionally hurting the american people is always the political wrong thing to do.
I would say yes, if the competitors for his job weren't such a bunch of clowns. Who needs sitcoms anymore?
Jack, how many times have you been spinning this doomed question of the President? You are basing this analysis on history. Let me also tell you in case you forgot, there is also a first for anything. And secondly, these are times unlike any other. Give Obama a break, if not for the Rebublicans' obstructionism your economy would have been in a better shape. You will bite your fingers if you did not re-elect Obama.
Perhaps it has been said before: In a country where laws declare pizza a vegetable,everything and everybody is doomed
No, it's just a coincidence. 7.2% does not a majority make.
Obama is a on term president. He was voted in due to the hate of Bush and has made things infinitely worse. I just wish people would realize that although Bush took us to war, Clinton and the Dems destroyed the economy, and are continuing to do so.
Times are different from FDR's era. Intelligent voters will know that, had it not been for Obama's good sense, unemployment which started due to Bush's questionable actions would have spiraled even higher.
Yes he is DOOMED...The guy has no clue when it comes to the economy and it couldn't be more evident than unemployment.
Sorry to Burst your bubble, Jack – But the short answer to Your Question is : YES
I honestly don't know why Obama doesn't put the money he's getting for the election to the DNC – & save it for 2016 – so we can get an Experienced Democrat in the White House. If I were Obama – I would 'skate' til it's time to swear in the next person – I would go and play the "Lame Duck" scenario, and take advantage of all the Perks for another year.
Larry in Texas
Obama's policies will doom his campaign. Jobs are just part of it
the whitehouse would like to spin it that way. The truth is, his incompetance and general anti-americanism is what has sunk his presidency. The ellectorate was fooled the MSM when they prevented obama from being properly vetted.
President Barack Obama can win the next election if he lowers the unemployment percentages, but I do believe that the unemployment percentages are here to stay. Because, what needs to been created that people need to add to their daily lives that has not been created yet. Creation is the key to are capitalist society. I can see the United States having a similar socialist revolution that compares to the Russian revolution of 1917. Once creation stops, Communism makes sense.
With the group of clowns that the GOP is submitting as his competition, something tells me he is pretty safe. Excluding Ron Paul of course who will never be allowed to get the nomination. Your choice is crooked or crookeder when it comes to politicians. Not much of a choice so why even bother voting. I'll be writing in Ron Paul but it will be a wasted vote I know.
UUmmm..... Hello....... Obama is doomed for MULTIPLE resons...
Not with this bunch of talking puppets the GOP has trotted out this year.
WIth the Republican candidates in the mix that are weak at best they may well be the doomed ones. We may get Obama for another four years if we want him or not. A run by an independent Trump would only muddy the waters and insure a win for Obama.
Really? The comparison to other administrations is meaningless. These are unprecedented times, the unemployment rate was skyrocketing as the man walked into the oval office. As long as the economy shows signs of life Obama is a shoe in for a second term. Hell, when you look at the GOP field it seems like a lock regardless...
No pres since FDR came inherited this big an economic mess either. FDR was given 3 re-elections to fix the problem and he did.
Why should it? After all he has worked from day one to improve the mess created by the last administration. I don't see the Republicans doing anything constructive. Basically, all they have done is hamper any efforts for improvement. Looking at their current less than stellar field of malcontents; I don't see anything but bad news for the working middle class in their agenda to suck the lifeblood out of this country, and give it outright to the top 1%.
– Corpus Christi, Texas
Jack, I don't think President Obama's re-election is ultimately doomed simply because of the fact that simple niche statistics are utterly irrelevant. It's the same as saying that "no President that was not white has been re-elected since the inception of this country." It is a meaningless stat which, taken out of context, gives the wrong message. The 7.2% statistic would have you believe that all of those Presidents that were not re-elected due to the unemployment rate were not re-elected solely based on that rate, when that is obviously untrue as many other factors are involved within a President's re-election bid.
Either way, I don't think the GOP has a credible response to President Obama yet, and so he is in little to no danger come election season.
We can only hope we can elect someone to deal with our problems, it doesn't look to good. After all we live in a Corporatocracy (Corporate Oligarchy), and they aren't elected.
Jack.. its amazing how many people have asked this question. I think even you have asked it and the answer is no.
The reason is, the current crop of GOP candidates is weak, and uninspiring. This is why the GOP is clearly split over who they like. Even when the candidate is chosen, half of the GOP will not like who it is.
If the GOP had a strong candidate, he or she would be up by 20% in the polls.
Obama's not the only idiot in Washington. I blame the obstructionists in congress as much as Obama, if not more. I like Obama's attempt to tie more employment in with improved infrastructure. That should have been a no-brainer but ends up being a no from Boehner.
Seems a strange question: No one has succeeded under these conditions since the last guy who faced these conditions? That would seem to demonstrate it do-able. He definitely has the potential to win but it is going to be a severely divisive election. I almost think the country would be better off if we flipped a coin.
Not at all. We have an FDR-like economy. The politics are similar as well, including the talk of socialism. As Frank Luntz has pointed out, going after capitalism is a winner for progressives, so Obama is not doomed. Not at all. Indeed, Newt calling him a socialist helps him.
The Reichwing traitors have been sending around emails telling companies not to hire to keep the unemployment high for the 2012 elections. And some of the companies have actually put up signs that say they will not be hiring till Obama is out of office.
Anybody who would have been elected following the horrendous, and possibly criminal, presidency of G.W. Bush would be doomed because of the tremendous and long term damage he did to this country. All President Obama needs to do is to remind all Americans of who got us into this mess, and which party is responsible for all the suffering that will go on for many more years. If unemployment doesn't get any lower, which I doubt it ever will, it will not be because Obama hasn't tried, but because the so-called Republican "job creators" are really "job destroyers" who are more interested in obstruction than construction. The real question is this, why hasn't John Boehner and his "creators" lived up to their hype?
President Obama might have something to worry about if the Republican Party actually had a Candidate with Charisma and a realistic Plan that didn't continue to live and die with Trickle Down ecconomics. What the GOP offers are a pair of front running, flip-flopping, pseudo-conservative, flim-flam men nobody wants to vote for (except the Rich). More of the same old, same old from the Party that got us all into this mess in the first place. It's gonna be an ugly, negative election. But Obama will win.
Oh and by the way, it would help if the republicans would see fit to put country first and assist the white house but we all know that won't happen. McConnell said it all. 'My first priority is to make this president a one term president" the rest of the country be damned.
Is President Obama doomed, Jack asks? I certainly hope so! He is a disaster. The Super-committee, Fast & Furious, agreeing with Hilary on the UN Small arms ban, an uncontrollable government, his ...URP...Health care plan, apologizing to every 2nd rate country on the planet for our faults, and a dozen other things that no other American president would have dreamed of. Shame on him!
As long as the GOP has this class of clowns as presidential candidates, Obama is safe. Gingrich? Are you kidding me? Republicans apparently have a short memory. He has just as many skeletons in his closet as Cain did? Don't they remember that at the same time he was trying to impeach President Clinton, he was having an affair of his own? And I seriously doubt that the GOP is open-minded enough to nominate a Mormon as their candidate, even though he has the best chance against Obama. Love him or hate him, and I happen to love him, we are going to have four more years of Obama. I just hope the Congress stops their bickering and gets to work. They are the real problem here, not the president.
"No president since FDR has won re-election with unemployment over 7.2%"
-except for President Obama in 2012! LETS GO! but if it gets down to 6-7 pct, we'll be even better off.
Obama should do us all a favor and leave early. A large amount of us haven't worked in over 18 months. The small rural areas are hit and hit hard ,so if you believe things are better maybe all the Politians should live in the real world of little hope.
Jack, wrong news site. I think you meant to write this OPINION piece for Fox "News".
With the weak and bizarre field of Republicans seeking the nomination, I have a feeling that the history regarding presidential races and the economy might be inconsequential. I am an independent voter, and the only Republican candidate that I would even consider voting for is Huntsman. He won't be around much longer, so I will take my chances with Obama over any of the Teapublicans.
NO he isn't doomed...quite frankly our do nothing Congress is doomed – he is only ONE man in a battle with a group of people that only are working to make his job impossible.
I have to take issue with this statement that I keep seeing bandied about in the media... "That's because a big part of the rate decrease is due to more than 300,000 discouraged workers giving up entirely on their job searches and simply dropping out of the workforce." People leave unemployment without getting other jobs for all sorts of reasons. The one and only time I was laid off (back in 2003), I started my own business, which has been supporting me and my family ever since. By the media's reckoning, I would be a "discouraged worker who's given up looking". An older worker who decides to move to a cheaper state and retire, would also be thrown in that category, as is a family who decides to become a single income household so one parent can stay at home with the kids.
To me, a better indication that the economy is moving in the right direction is the crowds I'm seeing at the malls Christmas shopping, the number of new small businesses sprining up, and the recent lack of small businesses shutting down. I don't know about the rest of the country, but at least in my part of Southern California, the economy definitely seems to be moving in the right direction.
YES , As an unemployed union member I will NOT vote for obama
Jack,
Obama isn't solely responsible for the state of the economy. Previous administrations as well as members of Congress and Senate are also to blame. And as voters we also need to take responsibility for continuing to vote for those who have made being a Congressman/woman or Senator a career. It's time to scrap this money grubbing Senate and Congress, and then overhaul our current political system. That means term limits for all, no more lobbying, no more pledges, and no more Super Pacs. If someone wants to run, then they need to get money from a general election fund.
Obama is far from doomed when you look at how the other side is doing these days. Each candidate for the Republicans are spending too much time fighting each other to even start looking at Obama. Every move they make, Cain's past and blaming of his opponents, Gingrich's past and "family" values, and even including the Trump Presidential Apprentice, is just going to divert support away from the current R-candidates.
Going by statistics, the answer is yes. Going by gut, the answer is no. Call me Pollyanna, but I think the American public will be forgiving of Obama's plight. Inheriting two wars, the biggest recession in history, natural disasters, etc., and an opposition party that has been out of touch with reality.
Well, come November 6, 2012, you can vote for Obama, who at least tried to fix the mess that George W. Bush created but was blocked at every turn by Republicans in Congress, or you can vote for the Republican nominee, who will promise to return to George W. Bush's policies that trashed the economy in the first place.
If you think the economy isn't bad enough now, vote Republican and watch it get far worse for everyone who isn't a member of "The 1%."
Your choice.
President Roosevelt was re-elected because he was fighting his way out of the Republican initiated great depression. President Obama is fighting his way out of the Republican initiated greatest recession since the great depression. No, as long as we remember our history, the president is not doomed, and neither are we.
Good item for consideration,but I dont think it will have the effect that one might expect.We still have one year too election and a lot of events can happen to offset the effects of the unemployment rate,Maybe there will be an awakening as to how we got to this point,and how corporate America is to blame for our demise and not Obama.There is an old adage (It will all come out in the wash )
Yes, Obama is in a Catch-22. The voters already know what to expect if he wins again. Just another 4 years of gridlock. It doesnt matter why, thats the way it will be. Maybe he thought he could just coast on through and let Pelosi..et al handle everything. It takes more than fancy sermonizin to actually lead a country like the USA. Good riddens and thank heavens this bad experiment is almost over.
President Obama was doomed to a single term once he started making promises he couldn't (or had no intention to) keep. Along with booting all the lobbyists and closing gitmo (and many others that were soon broken), the promise to create 2 million (which turned to save or create 3 mil, then 4 mil and finally 5 mil) jobs was enough to get him elected. However the inability meet promises that aren't particularly ambiguous enough to favorably spin will mean these promises will simply stand out too well as abject failures.
Unemployment rate will doom him but the health care will finish him off ,we as voters will remember that bill ,after I did read it I understand its bad.
Bye Bye Mr.Obama
Jack,
I can't see how it dooms him given the alternatives the GOP will give us. The GOP nominees only recommendation to fix the economy is to cut taxes for "job creators." This plan will not play well with the American Public.
dan
It's is overly simplistic to say that Obama's chances for reelection ride on a single unemployment number. On the other hand, I don't have alot of faith in the American voter to make distinctions between all the other positive things this president has accomplished and all the bad things we can expect from the Republican nominee. American voters, especially those on the right almost always find an excuse to vote against their own best interests.
Certainly the President can win. The Republicans can self-destruct, much like the Dems did for awhile. If he does get re-elected, he should send a thank you note to the far right of the Republican party. It certainly will not be due to his record!
Everything depends on whether voters blame the president or congress for failure to address the economic crisis. Yes, Obama may be unpopular in the polls, but Americans have never been more disappointed in congress or distrustful of it than they are now. If Obama can deflect criticism to congress, where it rightfully belongs, his odds are good. If his Republican opponents manage to pin the blame on him, he's in for an uphill battle.
The fact that the unemployment rate is still brutally high and what jobs that have been created for the most part are low paying ones, I think he is vulnerable.
The president is not doomed. This is the biggest hit the economy took since FDR. Roosevelt did not bring the economy back in four years. Instead it took quite a few years and a world war. Also in president Obama favor is A flip floper and a weasel leading the republican polls. Both of them along with the rest of the republican candidates have signed a pledge not to raise taxes even on the rich. That doesn't sit well with the voters either. I will not vote for a person who ties his hands behind his back and can only bring down the deficit by making cuts on the people who can least afford them.
Jack: President Obama is not doomed. President Obama has done positives things to keep people employed. His stimulus package kept 650,000 teachers, firemen, and police working. The stimulus package kept 250,000 of this group gainfully employed. If Congress would have passed the American Employment Act 400,000 teachers, firemen, and police would still be working, but Congress did not pass this act into law. The Republican controlled Congress believe giving people who make $1,000,000 a year taxcuts since 2004 will create jobs. WRONG!! Where are the jobs?? Answer my question. Mr. Republican, where are all the jobs your 2004 taxcuts have should have created??
Jack, you say "employers added only 120,000 jobs in October"... but you fail to mention that over 300,000 people retired that same month and over 10,000 retire every day....in many cases, someone had to take their place in the work force so your un-employment numbers are somewhat misleading.
As more "baby-boomers" retire, they are creating an unprecedented economic scenario where the jobs they are vacating are being filled by the next generation so it will be very hard to forecast the outcome of next November's elections based on election results from 70 years ago.
Obama will be fine......and besides, what are the GOP options???
1.The jobless rate just dropped. + 2. Before Obama all the Presidents were white + 3. The GOP is not a threat = Obama re-elected by a landslide. ( I am a Republican by the way)
We are doomed if he is re-elected!
Atlanta, GA
Jack,
I don't think the reason President Obama will be "doomed" in the upcoming Presidential Election will be due to the number and/or percent of unemployed. It is a factor but not the predominant one.
Basically, in a nutshell, this is a center-right nation, no matter what administration is in power. Obama, after 3 years is perceived by republicans, independents, southern democrats and working class non-union whites, as a person whose focus and ideology is far left, even socialist in nature. No matter how CNN and MSNBC tries to spin it, people have already decided. This is a one term president. There is not a coalition large enough to take this on no matter what kind of bumpkin republican candidate wins out.
Obama will be re-elected since there is no good republican candidate.
It shouldn't hurt him with the present GOP line-up. Let's face it the naturals (as in cereals) and the Bums of the Month don't offer anything positive! Lafayette, CO
Cafferty. Can you possibly present some POSITIVE questions to your viewers and readers? There is too much negativity in this world already. Are you familiar with the verse from the Bible: "Not by SIGHT...but by FAITH?"
People are already feeling in the doldrums. Try lifting spirits!!!!
Well, only if people have a very short memory. Bush and the last republican congress proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that republicans are totally incompetent to govern and are hopelessly corrupt to boot. They have spent the last 3 years blocking every meaningful recovery act that Obama has tried. They have no concern whatsoever for the American People, only their rich cronies. So, if the American people want the republican cronies to get richer, by all means they should vote for republicans. If not, then don't vote for republicans. Pretty simple.
It is too bad the job rate has not improved as much as is wanted. However to blame Mr. Obama is not the answer. The answer is for all parties to work together to create jobs. The GOP just want to defeat Mr. Obama.
I don't know. CNN was just trying to give Obama credit for the temp holiday workers increasing the job numbers:)
.The problem is that the middle class is shrinking rapidly. This is not due to Obama but rather to other countries such as China and India and an open trade policy that hasn't been countered with the proper retraining and investment in American workers in order to counter it for over two decades now. Oddly enough Obama has promoted such retraining and has helped keep the automobile and other industries alive. He has been a good President overall, especially for the middle class. Harry Truman said "Any working man who votes for a Republican should have his head examined" We need the type of government that wants to help the middle class more than ever right now. Any working person who votes for the like of Romney or Gingrich is voting against his or her own futures and those of their children. Obama has kept us out of a great depression and is the only present hope of the middle class. He is not perfect but is the best choice were going to get and we 99% people should recognize that reality and vote both him and his supporters into office overwhelmingly in order to stop the congressional log jam and get things rolling in high gear for the people.
For an electorate that is grossly misinformed, probably yes. However, if people understood that years of class warfare, who gets the best education, community resourses, not to mention the history of bigotry in this country, this has all contributed as to why unemployment is structural, our history of excluding folks have finally caught up with us.
Foreigners are taking our jobs because developing countries have done something we have failed to do, INVEST IN EDUCATION OF OUR PEOPLE, especially those that cannot not afford it.
No president since FDR has won re-election with unemployment over 7.2%.
Is President Obama doomed?
No President should be doomed because of a calamity he inherited and did not
create, if he has not ignored the situation, but is doing all in his power to alleviate it.
So how's that "hope and change" working out for you Obama supporters? If you voted for this guy and you lost your job, I don't feel sorry for your dumb ass. Obama is a Marxist, as in a Socialist/Communist. Do your homework next time you vote. And if you voted for this guy because he's "black", then you are a racist and part of the problem. Good Day!
Mark
It will make his reelection bid more difficult, but the majority of Americans have seen the disruptive GOP tactics that have hampered recovery, and prolonged the misery of the unemployed and the poor. Their behavior has been noticed by the AARP and other organizations, and they will pay. With Gingrich being such a blowhard, it won't be long before he self- destructs as he has done before. Romney has too many problems of his own. Cain has already pulled out. Ron Paul, Bachmann and Huntsman are limping. So who is left to challenge Obama?
Have you looked at the Republican candidates?
no, not doomed, but he would be if the republican party was not a bunch of clowns.
No. He is not doomed. The circumstances surrounding unemployment,"how we got there", and the public's belief that Congress has done nothing, combined with the Republican field of candidates are the reasons he will be re-elected.
No. Look you he will be up against. Both Romney and Gingrich are liars extraordinaire. The Democrats will expose them for what they are. Its amazing that they could not come up with better candidates.
Jack,
That's a big maybe. Why? Well the republicans has no plan. Nothing at all. They keep going back to lower taxes for "job creators" but this notion is puree fantasy. It has been shown over and over that it does nothing. And they have no plan for getting monies back to the folks that DO spend, the middle classes. The folks that work 9 to 5 have a mortgage and car payments et al. For myself... I have tons of spending I COULD do if I knew that I had the security of a permanent source of income. This is why people are NOT spending. They have no security! When folks have security in their jobs, and that means good paying jobs, no McJobs. People will spend.
Yes he is doomed. The president has talked a lot about creating jobs, but has done nothing about it. This president really does not deserve another term, but he was doomed from day 1, due to the partisan politics on both sides of the aisle.
maybe, but only because the electorate as a whole isn't too dumb to realize that no president could have fixed unemployment in 3 years...
Against the pathetic GOP slate? Not a chance. Obama's new slogan should be "YOU. CAN'T. TOUCH. THIS."
Tell Obama: he has to have a long term plan to : (i) reduce unemplyment rate (ii) Reduce US debts which he puts on American in the last 3 1/2 years. (iii) Stop talk-for-the talk. or just be quiet because everytime he opens his mouth then the stock going down. (iv) Stop playing politic and finger pointing games immediately.
(Big Rapids, MI) Jack, I dont believe he is doomed but he is threatened by the near-sightedness of voters in our country. If people can realize that the President has done as much as any official can do to create and maintain jobs, and that we're lucky to be back to 8.6% in three years time, he can prevail. He's doomed if he can't turn American pessimism into optimism.
Jack,
No president since FDR has inherited such an economic crisis either. Mr. Obama would have had more success reducing the unemployment rate if Congressional republicans had the interests of the the country at heart instead of their party. I would offer that the behaivor of the republican congress has been unamerican.
Tom Currier – Norfolk, MA
President Regean won re-election with 8.5%.
I doubt it. I'm still going to vote for him regardless of the unemployment rate. So far, with foreign policy, when he was able to make decisions without congress, he did well. If only they (Republicans) would move out of his way and let him fix the economy, we would get the same result.
Jack, Polls are as reliable as Psychics! No very, and yet, it's all you guys talk about! No real news, like the true amount of the bailout being 7.7 TRILLION, instead of 7 Billion Tax payer dollars, now that would be news! One more time, Do you want the guys back in office who created ALL of this mess? Do you. You know, the Party responsible for D-regulating the Banking industry which ended up costing 7.7 Trillion tax payer dollars. But you won't report that, why? The Federal Reserve gave the Banks, who just FAILED up to 7 Trillion Dollar Loans at 0.01 percent Interest!!!!!! If I fail to pay bills, I get 20% plus??? Do you really want these guys who protect the Banks, protect big business who pay Sinfully high Bonuses to failed businessmen and give them Golden Parachutes to retire on. Do you , Jack. DO you want to elect a party that only votes to stop the other party and make them look bad? Do you want to vote for the party that wants to take away Health Care from Millions, Social Security from Millions, Cuty education so that only the Rich Kids can afford it, Do You, Jack?
I have never nor have any of my colleagues, friends, or relatives have ever been Polled? How is that? Because it voodoo science, made up numbers, or rigged to give the answers you want. You vote for the Dark Side, Jack, I'm voting for the guy who is trying and has in my view done so much more meaningful HONEST work for our country, Barak Obama!
Jack all these republicans including the candidates have said is no for 3 years. The american people understand what's happening including their vow to beat Obama even if the economy tanks. The republicans and their vows will pay big time next november.
Jack, Even though unemployment is still high three years into President Obama first term, it was the Bush Administration and the whole GOP agenda, that is responsible for it. President Obama has managed to avert total destruction created by the Bush Administration and it hasn't been easy. President Obama is going to win BIG, because the GOP hasn't changed at all. Huge Tax Breaks for the Richest 1% and even though 25% of the electorate is either ignorant,racists or just oblivious to the facts. 26% isn't going to win many elections. We all been a witness to the Republican Debates and were not asking which one could be President, but rather how any of them ever held public office. Ignorance of that caliber simply can't be ignored, especially after witnessing eight years of the Bush Administration. Our country can ill afford placing the Presidency of the USA, in yet another ignoramus's (Bush)or criminally mindful(Cheney) hands. Landslide Victory for Obama ! Vote for Obama, He Got Osama ! Now there's a bumper sticker for you !
Yes, along with the stunning national debt.
Everyone knows the GOP is blocking everything that might make Obama look good. That includes Job creation controlled by rich company (GOP types)owers. Weather he's reelected or not look for job growth in late 2012.
No. But the Congressional Republicans had better start checking the want ads.
Let's see, FDR followed the Hoover disaster and now Obama followed the Bush disaster. The only one term presidents in between are Ford, followed Nixon and not actually elected, and Carter. You have some nice figures there but they say nothing. Looking at the GOP line up. Unemployment will have to hit 50% or the national average IQ will have to drop to below 50 to elect any of them.
He can win it 1) if people will look at the draconian measures the Republicans have offered as "solutions." Like "cutting back on government" actually means throwing hundreds of thousands of people out of work. How does that help the economy? We've already had to lay off teachers, cops, firemen, court employees, among others. Which of the corporations that donate big to the GOP is willing to hire them all? And would it be just a minimum wage job? That's just not the kind of society we've ever been – and now is not the time to start.
Depends on the choice. Obama can point to some successes and to the Repubs policies. Most Americans don't agree with the GOP policies, even in Obama does not poll well.
I would think at the least his back is up against a wall. President Obama 's term has been the victim of an effort by a few power brokers to wrest his power away .
I am 60 years old and don't remember a time where the American economy was blatently sacrificed for the sake of political power.I do not defend nor approve of the tactics used to force universal health care down our throats either
.If I were a member of Congress I would be less worried about who is the next president than where my next paycheck will come from after November.We vote our wallets but we know who is picking our pocket too!
No sir, he is not "doomed" at all. I believe that when rational people look at all the issues including when and how this all started, they will see that this is in no way Obama's fault and will determine that he deserves another term. Remember, jobs were being cut in droves well before he was elected. As we get closer to election and he starts getting the truth to come out about what his various plans have accomplished,and rational economist and pundits back him up on the fact that they prevented the economy and jobless rate from being much worse than where it is currently, his poll numbers will rise well above 51%. My personal belief is that if the rate can get down to 7.9%, he will be a shoe-in for relection.
Obama 2012 ...from San Diego
No Black American had been elected before this POTUS, either. I don't think historic numbers will tell the tale, ultimately. As bad as things are, things are getting better and this POTUS averted unimagineable financial collapse in the US. – And the GOP, got us into this mess in the first place, and have no ideas about how to get us out, anyway. They just bash the President, offering no real immediate solutions. Can I see any of the GOP candidates as POTUS. God no!
Yes. its doom time for Obama becuase
1. Obama cant support entitlements/freebies for the unemployed.
2. Congress won't do anything about immigration in the name of 'protect american labor' that is used to free entitlements and
3. to GOP will be successfull in eliminationg poverty my eliminating the poor.
"In God we trust, the rest we vote"
Doomed? Its the GOP that is doomed. I just hope voters aren't dum enough to see it.
President Obama is in for a tough reelection fight, that's for sure. The GOP have tried to make it easy for him by only running their very worst candidates, each with a bad personality and a closet full of skeletons, but it's still going to be a tough fight no matter how you look at it. I give Obama fifty-fifty odds at this point.
He would be doomed but have you seen what the republican party has to offer? I dont trust any of those clowns. They frighten me.
This will hurt obama in re-election more than anything else. Adn that despite the fact that every major media outlet is trying to spin the employment numbers to be somewhat favorable to obama.
Unless the GOPers come up with a serious nominee, Obama will be the best choice for President. So far the Debates have been nothing short of comic Reality TV and the latest Trump deal only makes it more of a comedy.
The numbers would be better with Congressional Cooperation. That's not going to happen. The last time Congress helped pull the country from Depression was in FDR's time. There has NOT, by today's standards, been a Republican President since that time. Ike, Nixon, Ford, nor even Reagan would be considered Presidential material in today's Republican Party.
The Republicans, even if it takes the country down, are not about to take a chance on 60 more years in the Conservative Wilderness.
When it comes to government and reporting of numbers, it's all done by fuzzy math. In truth, the percent is much higher. Fear is gripping this country, and what do people do in times of fear... Blame the "other" side for their pain and hardships. Reading comments that are left by people, I am shocked at the venom that is spewed toward the "other side." I have been disappointed in the leadership of this country... after being so excited after the last elections. To see the "politics" and game playing by both sides only escalate under this leadership, shows that this leadership is not equipped to lead our nation. We have serious problems...and we need people who are committed to finding solutions that will actually be of benefit.
Will Obama take a hit... Absolutely. Every President in his situation does... "Blaming" the other side for the woes of this country.... is not leadership.... and does nothing to help the average American. Leadership is about joining two converging sides, finding compromise, bridging the gap. Every voice, not just the one in agreement with your own, has the right to be represented. Trying to make the other side appear "wrong" is not the type of leadership this country needs.
I don't know who the right person is... but I desperately hope someone steps up that can respect and value all Americans. Not just the ones that happen to be a member of his / her same party.
Yes ... he is doomed to work for another four years with a dysfunctional Congress.
I think that it would (deservedly or undeservedly) if the Republican Party could field a qualified candidate that THEY are willing to vote for. So far the only viable candidate the side-show that passes for the Republican nominating process has produced is Romney, so the question is, will Republicans hold their collective noses and vote for him, or will they stay home, pining for Sarah Palin?
I think it will be easier for Obama to get re-elected because of the tripe the GOP has been handing out like Halloween candy. They are dooming themselves and pretty much, not entirely, giving the election away to Obama. Honestly, the best the GOP has to offer right now is Newt Gingrich? That's just sad...
No President has ever been elected with unemployment this high. Another Jimmy Carter in the waiting.
He should be doomed!! My family voted for him. We are all Independents. We will not make that mistake in 2012, but hold our noses and vote Republican no matter who they run!! All that nonsense we believed about Hope & Change has turned to Doom & Gloom. He is an incompetent and needs to go back to his Chicago boys.
He should be worried but what's the alternative? Should we go back to the party that caused the problem??? it sure wasn't Obama.
Giving tax breaks to the wealthy haven't created jobs so far and it's been 10 years since bush gave the tax cuts????
Because the majority of working and middle class Republican voters are so abysmally uninformed, they don't have a clue that the President is trying to enact policies that will benefit them. Instead, they are under the delusion that this Republican Congress is working on their behalf. So, yes, it is possible – maybe even probable – that he could lose this election if the unemployment rate stays stuck on nowhere.
Yes he's doomed. However, high unemployment is only one of the areas that he has failed. There are many more. Combine that with the debt, GDP, downgrade, consumer confidence, etc. and you'll get the picture. One term is about all our great country can take. When you are being talked about in comparison to Jimmy Carter, you have no business running for reelection.
No Jack it will not doom the President.. but you hope it will. The republicans will insure a second term for President Obama. By the way, it is President Obama, not Obama. For your information...
Of course he will Jack – everyone knows it's W's fault!
Jack while your statistics maybe true, it is still early and many Americans do believe that Obama inherited a big mess regardless of the Media's hype that the economy is the President's fault.
Normally yes, yet considering the grossly dysfunctional cadre of Republican hopefuls, he may get a pass.
Mr.Cafferty, my question to you is..do we have a nation of idiots? and Is this the time to switch Presidents when we are facing such a financial crisis? frankly I don't think it's the Presidents fault and replacing him with another President with an agenda of erasing all the accomplishments this Presidents has done and starting over does not seem like a very good idea, like it or not.
Assuming FDR's opponents weren't: Whackos; Liars; Womanizers; Cheats; Flip-floppers or just plain Kooks, I'd say Obamas has a better than 50/50 chance of winning reelection. My opinion is of course based on the assumption that the electorate votes for a candidate on more than political ads and soundbites.
Part of the reason the economy stays so bad is that Republicans are blocking every effort by the President to do something about it. It is in Republicans interest to keep the economy lousy and blame the President for it.
No he is not doomed. Look at the choices that are on the GOP side. They are terrible and not even worth considering. The President will not cruise to re-election seeing it will be ugly from the get go but he has more common sense than all of the Republican candidates put together. I am voting for him because he has tried to get things done but the GOP and the pledges have gotten in the way. The GOP needs to go back to the drawing board because what they are pushing on all of us is not working.
He isn't doomed. If the monthly job growth range from 150K to 200K from this month to the Presidential Election next year, President Obama will be re elected by a landslide. The MOC (Members Of Congress) aka the DNC (Do Nothing Congress) will be D.O.O.M.E.D.
Jeffery, NY
No he's NOT DOOMED not at all because any fair minded person understands that every remedy the President has tried has been BLOCKED by republicans. It's obvious the republicans want him to fail even if it means the economy tanks. The Doomed people are the Republicans and their Tea Party extremist..OBAMA has My VOTE!
One can only hope that he will come to the realization that the job was too big for him and step aside!!!
The answer is in the question: we haven't faced economic problems this severe since the FDR days. Since it's going to come between Obama, and some Republican, and Republicans plan for the economy is the same it's always been, I'm going with Obama.
even if the unemployment was at zero i would not vote for obama
Hi Jack.....
I think the times are clearly unprecedented and I think the majority of Americans understand the current situation is not all of Obama"s making and that the President doesn't have a magic switch to pull to change employment. The vast majority know what has to be done – cuts and revenue increases. Our political discourse and "leadership" is failing America and that is becoming ever more obvious. 2012 is a jump ball right now.....
Obama has very little chance of winning a second term.
Is that why Obama is campaigning full time for a second term?
Obama should be working instead for America and working to improve his single term.
Obama should hear his own speech about having a good, single term.
jack....no ,obama will win the election.......you sound like an obama hater jack......
We need to stop looking at the POTUS and be concern with US. No one man can change what 5+ years have destroyed. This is just a by-product of globalization.
Good grief Jack. Obama has doomed himself...he is unqualified and lacks basic leadership skills. For the life of me I can't believe so many fell for his rhetoric! he doomed himself – Day 1...
Though I am, in no sense, any kind of "supporter" of Barack Obama (I regard him as a horrible president), no president can create genuine jobs in a market economy. That is not one of the functions of the office of president, nor is it a function of the U.S. Congress or the U.S. Supreme Court. Government "jobs" can be created, but those are in no sense productive jobs that create products and/or services voluntarily purchased in the marketplace. Instead, the so-called "services" produced by those jobs are forced on the marketplace by the violence, threat of violence or retaliatory violence of law and are funded by wealth involuntarily extracted from the productive economy. Genuine productive jobs are created through private investment and risk and those jobs prosper and grow only when that private investment and risk (and the products/services thus produced) are well-received by voluntary purchase in the marketplace. The fact that many people blame or reward the president for poor or good performance of the general economy, does not mean that such blame or reward is well-founded. It's simply an indication of the continuing growth of voter ignorance.
President Obama will be just fine and will be re-elected by a healthy margin, despite the serious economic condition of the country. High unemployment is a very serious problem for 13 million Americans, but when the other party only cares about those making more than a million dollars a year there is scant comfort (for those who think at all) for the down and out in electing a Republican President in 2012. Their team under Bush/Cheney and Treasury Secretary Paulson almost destroyed the economy of the United States. Do we really want them back in power? Is tearing down government and deregualting all checks and balances really the answer? Do we want to hand over America to the corporations like Governor Perry has done in Texas (Texas is the poster child minimum wage jobs backed by Federal ly funded food stamps and welfare)? After all who really wants clean air and clean water? Who wants to limit the power of the investment banks and huge insurance companies? If the Republicans had the White House now there never would have been 99 weeks of unemployment benefits. It would have been 26 weeks and then...." hey tough luck losers!" Just watch a couple of the Republican candidate debates and you will see to date there is no serious alternative being offered by the Republicans. As a conservative Democrat, I just wish that the Democratic party would run an alternative for us like current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or former US Senator Sam Nunn. It is hard to get up much enthusiasm for President Obama who has been very weak (along with Reid and Pelosi) in dealing with the Republican ideologues and racists but compared to Romney, Gingrich, Bachmann, Paul, Perry, Santorum, etc. the choice looks pretty easy. It is just too bad that Former Utah Governor Huntsman who is a very appealing candidate is running as a Republiican. He should be running as a Democrat. Governor Huntsman is way too smart, articulate, educated and experienced (Chinese speaking former US Ambassador to China) to be part of this pack of ethically challenged, Tea Party loving, isolationist and right wing Republicans. So it is pretty clear that it will be Obama again in 2012!
Hard to say. The GOP isn't any more popular than the democrats right now, and the candidates the GOP currently has running against President Obama don't seem to be exciting voters. There's still a lot of people that blame George W. Bush's policies. The deadlock in Congress isn't helping either party, and is only hurting the image of both. The GOP can't depend on unemployment catapulting them into the White House again- they are going to have to come up with real solutions and get the voters to buy into them. Obama has the same challenge- he needs to acknowledge that what he's done hasn't worked and try something new.
If he is then Americans are fatally stupid.
No, not if he can find someone else to blame it on.
I sure hope not – seeing as how the GOP has fought him every step of the way. I am not 100% satisfied with the job that he has done, but given the paucity of intelligent, caring GOP candidates, he still has my vote
Roan Mountain, TN
Is he doomed? We can only hope so!
In total, 8.8 million jobs have been lost since the recession started, and fewer than a third of those have been recovered.
And those third that have been recovered are low paying jobs.
For the good of the country Obama must be replaced by someone and it does no really matter who that someone is.
There's no way I'm gonna vote for any of the current Republican candidates. And if a Republican DOES get elected, let's see how great he does after 6 months in office. That's what they did to Obama. Right from the start, the Republicans had no other goal than to obstruct Obama and defeat him in 2012. They did NOTHING for the American people, nothing at all.
Obama's fate will be sealed by the unemployment rate, the economy, his inabiilty to get anything done "across the aisle", his appointment of and association with Attorney General Eric Holder and the Fast and Furious fiasco. I believe Obama has already considered himself to be a one term President; and, I don't believe he's wrong about it.
Obama would be doomed if the GOP had a real candidate. But with those GOP clowns stumbling all over the place he has nothing to worry about. Americans are stupid. But not that stupid.
Jack put this way...while unemployment is way too high; as an employed college grad this is what I can tell you. Under Obama, I have my job, it doesn't pay hundreds of thousand, but I am happy with it. Under Obama, my wife got at an equal pay job, after all women generally gets paid less than men. Under Obama, many families (I used to work with) can breathe easier when it comes to healthcare because many of them could think of getting it and many more will be able to afford it after 2014.
As for the alternative, if you make less than $60K/yr, ask yourself to name 8 things republicans have proposed or have done to make your life easier in the last 3 years? Heck, name 3?"
If Obama is doomed, I will do my part to make sure this isn't the case because the alternative is so much worse.
Educated voters who understand that the high unemployment rate is the result of the housing mess, that it occurred primarily because of Bush, and that a crisis of this enormity takes time to resolve, will support Obama in 2012. Uneducated voters and conservatives won't. How that stacks up in terms of the electorate, who knows.
As long as the unemployment rate hovers between 8 – 9%, and there isn't a big spike just prior to the election, Obama will become the second president to be elected with an unemployment rate above 7.2%. In the end, Newt will self-destruct and Romney isn't competitive.
No, because people do realize that it was the GOP under Bush that caused the crash that fed the high unemployment #'s, Obama has managed to turn the tide from huge job losses to job gains and the GOP has been more interested in obstructing growth and trying to privatize social security and medicare than actually do anything to help the economy and the people.
The unemployment rate makes the President vulnerable. If the Republicans could nominate a creditable candidate they would win. Of the seven candidates left, only Huntsman would likely win and he has little or no chance of being nominated. Bachmann, Perry and Santorum would lose badly. Romney or Gingrich might have a shot but could win or lose. Paul is a bit of a wild card but would likely lose because although he has appealing ideas for both the left and right, he also supports ideas that both the left and right detest.
The jobless rate will hurt Obama to some extent.
The question is whether people can see this situation for what it is. Republicans are hellbent on seeing that jobless people remain jobless, that the middle-class continue lose ground and that the poor and uneducated remain.....poor and uneducated.
It is painfully obvious that the Republican's stated goal of making "Obama a one-term President" is a pursuit they mean to engage in.....whatever the cost to working-class Americans.
Jack "IF" he is doomed it would not be for that reason.It would be because American's do not want to be Greece,do not want a nanny state and do not want to be so deep in debt that our country is no more.
David
Jack – We also, in our history so far, had not elected a black president and yet here he is! And there are still 11 months till election day. I don't think Pres. Obama is doomed at all especially when I look at the "turkeys" that represent the GOP field.
The jobless rate has gone from bad to worse and all Obama seems to want to talk about is raising taxes. Why are the American people so afraid of admitting that Obama is a failure at creating jobs, negotiating between parties and leading the country. Since Obama took office the country is more divided than ever. He is a master at creating division and we need someone who can work with the parties and bring this country together.
The current GOP front-runners could help Obama beat history. Romney made his money taking over companys and then laying off workers and Gingrich believes in "supply-side" economics, which has helped skew the wealth in favor of the 1% and away from the rest of 99%.
I think the majority of the American public realizes that the GOP has done everything within its power to NOT help the economy for purely political reasons.
Again, he didn't create the problem, it didn't happen overnight, and it will take longer than overnight to repair President Obama is THE ONLY who will look out for the middle class and the poor. If American put the Republicans back in office, we are all going to that proverbial place in a handbasket, quick, fast, and in a hurry.
No I do not think that Obama is doomed.
If Americans were wise, they would look at the alternatives, or lack thereof, and realize that a knee-jerk reaction will only cost them more in the long-term. The damage that the GOP and Wall street scandals did during the Bush era will take more time to repair and recover from then four short years.
I truly hope the American public has learned something from this experience.
No, because the Republican's have no platform and this was the worst recession ever. It will take more than 4 years to recover from the mess he inherited from GWB. Most economic indicators are going in the right direction DESPITE the Party of No trying to sabotage the economy just to take control of the White House. Shame on you Mitch McConnell!
It's over, Jack. Ring him up – Obama's lack of effective leadership has doomed his re-election. The only hope he has is a weak Republican field. That won't be enough to turn the tide. The mood in the country feels like the Jimmy Carter years. One termer.
I have an idea. Let's look at the entire picture. Let's include in this evaluation, the fact that no President has faced a Congress so bent on destroying his legacy, before he even started building it. No President has had a Congress so opposed to him that they would damage the Country's financial status to make sure he doesn't get elected. And let's not forget, no President has had to deal with 2 inherited, insanely un-popular, mis-managed, and expensive wars. So make surs that when you take that poll, you include those questions. Otherwise, your polling data is skewed.
No. How can he be doomed? All the other presidents that lost ran against competent opponents. I am a loyal democrat and fully support the president. However, even if I detested him, I would feel compelled to admit that he is definitely the lesser of the several evils out there.
What a silly question. Considering that Bush made the mess, Republican controled house prevents passage of any solutions (although the democrats were guilty of wondering around like lost sheep too), perhaps the real issue should be replacement of all of Congress not the President.
Most Americans realize the recession is not Obama's fault, and that while he is constantly trying to get Congress to support recovery he is fighting an uphill battle, with that said there isn't a Republican candidate that would be a better leader, so with this poor unemployment rate we need to stick with the only person likely to create a better America for the middle class. There is no other option, the rest have the best interst of the wealthy and 99% of American is not buying into them, regardless of what of some of these lame polls say. Just stand in any grocery line, or any public place Americans are sick and tired of Congress and the Gop at this point, and to add foolish wealthy men like Trump who have turned this political process into a circus.
Why is it that everyone keeps forgetting why we are in this mess in the first place?? NO. He is not doomed because of the current GOP POTUS selection AND because though slowly, we are still on our way out of the mess created before he took office.
No Jack it will make no differnce..the rupubs.had a chance but refused to listen to the idependents.if they had put Huntsman up for us to look at and get a feel for.(seeing how he's is the only Real canadate the independ.will look at.the others are bought and paid for by norq. and kroch brothers)..thats is why Obama will win the next election.the Gop just don't care what the people want just what the corperations want..and to the Republicans that took the pledge..that was just stupid on so many levels.first you took a pledge when you took office and second the people put Obama in office so anything you did was against what the people wanted nobody seems to be taking that into consideration except the voters..so no matter how the news media spins it the fact still remains they are going agianst what the people wanted no matter how you slice and dice it..bad move on the republicans side.meanwhile the Independents watch and wait for the next Republican to implode.
Lord, I hope so....
May be, may be not! It is not all his fault. Republicans ransacked the surplus with two wars, Tax cuts etc. all this has to be corrected. also the catch phrase is not" it is Econmics stupid- it is Education stupid" ! we need skilled workers. Obama is hitting back and has prepared the groundwork for prosperity now he needs to get this message . The opposition that is evolving is a joke. they have no message except to unseat. My prediction is reps will be surprised come Nov 2012. Jacksonville, Florida
jack, we have to cut rich folk taxes to create jobs,oh right we did that,well we keep their taxes low and eventually they will create jobs...gotta love those repubs, wonder if any of them have ever been hungry?
Of course not. CNN reported just last week that the jobless rated had "plummeted."
No President has ever dealt with a Congress that has worked this hard to try and make him fail. This strategy will backfire, however, as it becomes clear that Republicans have steadfastly chosen to represent only the extreme elements of their party at the expense of all the other constituents they represent yet purposely ignore. They have not done one thing to help create jobs, nor do they have a plan to do this, and the majority will reelect Obama and give him a majority in both houses for just that reason.
Doomed? Hardly. No President since FDR has had the opposing party put forward such a pathetic group of nominees. The Republicans had this on a silver platter. They won't win, they can't win...not with Newt and MItt as your leaders. Obama may be a headache, but the republican Nominee will be a cancer. When was the last time you ever heard someone say I'd rather have a cancer than a headache.
I seriously believe that reasoned people in America, which include independents, know that Obama was handed the worst recession since the great depression and a do nothing congress. Old unemployment statistics born out of, and by comparison typical 10 year events, should not be applied to a 100 year event. It will be close but Obama will win largely on his handling of Irag and Afghanistan and an impeccable record against terrorism and national security once the sole property of Republican neocons.
Mr. Cafferty, How in the world can anyone in their right mind blame President Obama for this mess? It was dumped in his lap even before he became President. And how can he make things better when the entire GOP delegation intentionally and delibertly thwarts his ever move and refuses to help. It like they drove the bus in the ditch and when someone comes along to help them get it out they're pushing it back in. There is no way he can win when we have a political system so out of touch with reality. I doubt that even FDR or President Reagan could fight them off and get us back on the road. I really don't!
His fate is not in his hands alone. He could win re-election if the Republican candidate doesn't win the primary by a decisive margin. President O'Bama can't run on his record, as the Republicans have blocked most of his proposals. Also he can't win as he did in 2008 by a backlash against President Bush.
How can the pesident not have a good chance at re-election? There will be no great economic plan from his opponents. Heck, most of them can't pass a current events or civics quiz how are they going to mastermind an economic recovery plan?
However no president since FDR (and before) was ever challenged by a sadder bunch of clowns and crazies on the other side than this one is. So........Obama 2012 is my bet
President Obama will win reelection. He took over a monumental mess from Bush/Cheney and cohorts. He has turned it around. The jobs have been coming back, the 401K's are recovering. He killed Osama bin Laden and many of his murderous thugs. Passed Health Care Reform when many past Presidents have tried and failed to do so. Ended the war in Iraq. Passed the Lily Ledbetter act. Actually worked with our allies to disposed of Libya's Gaddafi without the loss of any of our military. And much more. He is really really smart.
And of course there is the clown show that is the tea party Republican candidates. Then there is the newest front runner,
Newt, "The Grinch who stole Childhood"
No. I believe this time is different. Obama did not get us into this mess, and we are slowly coming out of it. Obama is also trying to do things that could help solve the problem like extending the payroll tax cut and the jobs act. However, the republicans are trying to block all efforts to improve the economy. They think that if the economy remains sluggish and unemployment stays high, the voters will blame Obama. Well, this voter and I believe many more blame the republicans for playing politics at the expense of the middle class and unemployed americans. I will not reward the republicans.
It is likely that if he is doomed that it will have more to do with his aproach to the problem than the problem itself. His victories are either unpopular (Obamacare), accidental (bin Laden), or continuation of Bush's policies (stimulous, tax credits, and even the Iraq withdrawl – signed by GWB before Mr. Obama took office).
There was too much loud talking and soft sticking early in his presidency and he alowed his vision to starve in a Congress he owned. When the American people rebuked him for weakness, he doubled down on calls for bipartisenship on partisen legislation.
If Vietnam and the Gulf war tought us anything, it was that Americans have no tolerance for weakenss, real or percieved, in our leaders. We will support a winner before any other ideal. BHO has a long way to go to reconvince the American people that he is a winner.
For God's sake, Mr. Obama is not at fault, the republicans have blocked
just about everything, put the blame where it belongs, on the evil republicans.
If he can lay out exactly what the Repubs are saying about the tax extension. And actually show cause and effect of the Repubs refusal to extend those cuts, then he can get the election. But political rhetoric and snide name calling will not help.
Under normal conditions I would agree. Take a look at the Republican candidates and tell me who is a serious candidate? I can't take any of them seriously. What a sad state. No, our president will win re-election and then Mitch McConnell will tell people he will do everything possible to keep President Obama from winning a third term. Learn to count Mitchy.
I'm an independent voter. Based on the present GOP offerings, Obama has my vote unless a serious controversy arises within the administration. Obama has done a decent job considering the economic mess that was handed to him, as well as the obstructionist GOP working to sabotage him.
It seems Mr. McCarrferty isn't so muh posing a question, as he is providing his opinion with a question mark at the end. The fact of the matter is that this president has worked everyday to create jobs while the GOP has decided intransigent obstructionism is their best strategy to defeat him and destroy the economy.
This president will be re-elected in 2012 because the electorate is smarter than you give us credit for.
If the GOP came up with a center right candidate who focused on jobs and the economy, and not on marriage equity and abortion, I'd agree with you.
However, as of now (12/8/11), the top two GOP candidates are someone who switched his views on issues from marriage equity to global warming to evolution and someone who cheating on his wife while she was in the hospital and who lobbied for Freddie Mac (since most historians don't make millions from their work).
Obama himself couldn't ask for better opponents to beat, given today's economy.
I'm sure it will! He has not done a thing to help the middle class. What we need is a Republican President. After all their policies have created millions upon millions of jobs. Everyone from Ronald Reagan to George Bush. Remember trickle down economics. I know that worked for millions of Americans and Ronald Reagan only had to raise taxes 7 out of 8 yearrs he was in office. All the money the government collected helped the middle class immensely. Let us all rally around the Republicans so they can make the rich richer, and they will give us all minimum wage jobs. This way our corporate masters will not send any more jobs overseas.
If it is a simple myopic vision of the current situation then the Obama administration is in a very difficult, if not impossible situation. If the vision is broaden to the state the economy before the Obama administration came into office and the damage done my excessive favortism to the corporate elite, the hyper-partisan environment created by the hard-core minorities in the Left and Right, and an intransigent Congress that prides itself on doing nothing (both sides); then the Obama administratin may break even. A clear dominance for the Obama administration will be a Republican candidate that spouts the same "tax-cut for the wealthy" and "cut-back on the needy" rhetoric. A Republican plan that resembles more of the same wealth-oriented favortism will make many ask, "Who will do the least damage to our economy over the next four years." As much as the Conservatives talk about the "Socialist" ideas of the Obama administration, the only solution they provide is more "Aristocracy of the Wealthy". There must be change in the Obama administration for it to remain in office, but this is more likely than a paradign shift among the Conservative Right.
Not likely Jack, the Repub candidates scurry like vermin every time light is shown on them. Romney seems to be the only one who isn't a moron. Pres O has been doing his best while having to deal with the party of NO, and I think the average citizen while not thrilled with the progress we have made, understands the obstruction the president must over come to get anything done. The Pres will be re-elected, thank God!
If people pay attention they will be aware that the Republicans have blocked every effort of the President to create jobs. His common sense approach seems to have gone over their heads. No, the president is not doomed. Thinking people have observed the comedy hour that the Republican party has produced and know they need to elcect someone who represents all the people, not just the 1%. Judy M.
Doomed ??
Unemployment is only one of many problems he faces and is clueless about.
The real problem is his deceiving agendas. He is determined with every fibre of his body and mind to change forever how America works. He has a genuine disdain for our free enterprise system and what it stands for; profit, personal wealth thru personal achievement, etc. He wants to re-distribute wealth thru huge socialistic government cradle to grave hand out programs, creating a permanent future society totally reliant on government.
A conservative Republican candidate like Gingrich who is thoroughly knowledgable of Obama's game plan can truthfully expose him for what he is. A destroyer of freedom.......................and America.
Yes, mainly because the Republicans cannot find a candidate that will win in a general election! Romney and Gingrich both leave MUCH to be desired. I can't imagine either one of them being our next President.
Trust the guy that got Bin Laden, kept us out of Libya, is winding down Iraq & is giving the U.S. Military a way to gracefully exit Afghanistan. Alex "Sonny" Chapman, Ville Platte, La.
President Obama's biggest opponent is not the GOP candidates, but himself. Disappointment in President Obama will not make me vote for one of the GOP candidates (at least not this batch), but I may not vote at all next year and a lot of people I have spoken to feel the same.
While that holds as a fact, it is important to point that none of those affected incumbents inherited the kind of economic mess Obama is tasked with solving. It's irresponsible to advance the notion that Obama would have, somewhat, grown the economy without first containing the acute haemorrhaging. The current crop of Republican hopefuls has seemed more like a gathering of comedic misfits, rather than serious candidates, so my bet is that Obama breaks the "over 7.2% unemployment" curse.
In Nov 2012 it's the current economic situation PLUS the alternative to Obama that is the real issue – not just the economic situation. If the alternative to Obama is Romney or Gingrich, the voter will likely swing toward Obama because neither Romney nor Gingrich have proposed anything better than what Obama is doing/proposing. I trust Obama and what he is trying to accomplish – I don't trust his pandering, flip-floping right wing opponents and don't agree with their proposals.
Why should anybody be surprised? Republican globalists have been shipping our jobs overseas now for decades.
Not at all, all you have to do is look at the Republicans running against him, Newt who's morals are ten time worse than Clintons, at least Clinton tell Hilary about an affair and her on the death bed as was the case with Newt and Romney can't put two words together, good thing he came from a weathly family are he would be in the soup line.
Many would overlook the administrations many flaws if the jobless rate was not so high. There is no one reason to say let's keep him another 4 years.
In normal times, Jack, I would say yes. But these are far from normal times. Most thinking Americans recognize that the economic doldrums plagueing this country are the result of the disastrous policies that led to the 2007 recession, the housing bubble and the 2008 near meltdown. And they realize that it is almost impossible to right the ship because of the obstructionists, particularly the tea party lemmings, in Congress. But, even so, Obama would be in big trouble if the Republicans had a viable candidate. They don't. So, by default, Obama is not doomed.
I wouldn't count him out, but honestly I don't see how he can defend his record on the economy after wasting so much time and energy forcing healthcare on America. Now he realizes he has to do something about the economy so he can get re-elected.
With those clowns in the GOP that is trying to win the nomination for President? That pretty much guarantees President Obama will get re-elected.
When Reagan ran for president in 1984 the unemployment rate was over 10%. He was written off. He won the election. You have no idea what is going to happen with Obama winning or not. The election is still 11 months off, anything can happen. Besides, look at the competition he's up against. They're all unqualified morons. Obama can still win re-election with high unemployment especially with the trash he's running against.
Franklin Roosevelt was a four term president; his fourth term being only a few months. Certainly.unemployment wasn't at 7.2 percent when he won in 1932, after the 1929 stock market crash and the incumbent Herbert Hoover left office. Whether you are speaking of the election of 1936, 1940, or 1944 having 7.2 unemployment, nothing compares to what F.D.R. was up against during these years, and what he accomplished ! In answer to your question, in the 2012 election, I can't say that president Obama is doomed, unless the Republican party finally gets their act together, and nominates W.M.R.
Im still voting for President Obama in 2012. How could anyone think the jobless rate would be better under a Republican? The low taxes our "job creators" already pay is proof that our jobs aren't coming back anytime soon. A Republican would lower taxes for those "job creators" even more, and all our jobs would STILL be in China. Blame Congress and our 1% for our jobless rate as they are the only ones with the power to change this, not our President.
The actual unemployment percent at the time of the election is not as important as whether it's rising or falling and what the overall sentiment of the economy is at the time. And unless some shining knight pops-up on the GOP scene, the current lineup of contenders is hardly enough to attract the independent voters.
He's doomed already. The vast leftwing flirtation with socialism hasn't worked. Way too late to avoid a GOP landslide in 2012.
Heck no Jack. There are a lot of stupid voters out there.
With the kind of clowns running for the Republican primaries, unemployment could be 99.9% and Obama would still win the presidency. To me I think most Americans understand the magnitute in which the recession hit us. The fact remains that Obama came in and stopped the bleeding that was life threatening. It came at a high cost to our deficit, but it was better than sitting and watching the patient die, like the Republicans prescribed. FOUR MORE YEARS OBAMA!!!
And you think any of these Republican friends of Donald Trump are going to bring the unemployment rate down? Dream on.
Why is are CNN and Fox so foccesed on this Pres, as a failure.
Answer the question, how many pres. prior yo FDR were reelected with a high unemploymet no. There were a few and there could be another.
You media typs will collect big bucks to find fault with the prez. but give him credit for nothing.
You say that he has no energy plan. Now it seems to me that his vision is for the country to be off oil by 2020. That new forms of energy should be incorporated by that date and has challenged US citisens to do that. His Sputnik moment, no.
Most of you are heavly invested in big oil and so you do not want it , oil, to go away.
Give him a break Jack, The country could some thing posative far a change. METALWORKER in ILLINOIS
Yes, he is domed but is not just due to the unemployment rate that will casue him to lose the election. The fact remains that he had failed policies, no record to run on, he is not a leader. He contiues to blame others and has lost our country's respect to all foreign nations. Finally, the economy is not moving the right direction and the large debt that he has put us in are other reasons
He's doomed already. Way too late to avoid a GOP landslide in 2012.
Obama is not doomed, if unemployment numbers keeps dropping and the GOP elects a leader that is unelectable, because of extreme right views, does not get his/her fact straight, flip-flops, hidden skeletons & etc. You get the picture.
The unemployment rate did not drop 1/2 percent last month because 120K new jobs amount to that much. It dropped because a lot more people have been out of work so long that they are considered to be out of the market for statistical purposes. The pain is still there and will remain there until the government realizes that it must provide an incentive to businesses to spend the more than $2 Trillion they are holding in cash equivalents. Obama knows all about investment tax credits, but he lacks the will to go up against the left elements in his party who will scream that it is a "giveaway to the rich."
I'm not sure where you get your numbers but the numbers I'm reading say Reagan actually did. Or at the very least it was very close. Once the general election starts Obama will be running against his opponent, and once Americans have a chance to see Obama and that candidate side by side on a stage debating each other Obama will quickly blow the Republican out of the water. It is very obvious that the problems with our economy are being caused by republicans inaction in congress, and once Obama has a chance to explain it to America they'll figure it out.
If the American people are stupid enough to think that any president can simply flip a switch to make the economy obey his every whim, then Obama might be in trouble. Events over the last few years, however, illustrate how complicated that system is. I predict unemployment won't dip below 8% by November, but it will continue to slowly decrease, and Obama will get another term.
President Obama is doomed if the electorate has not been paying attention to what is going on over they last few years. I am aware that the economy was tanking when Obama took office. I'm old enough to have weathered other economic downturns and know that recovery doesn't happen overnight. I have heard and/or read comments from SC and US Republican congressmen who have stated that they intended to make Obama a one term president. I was paying attention when Republicans said "No" to every proposal designed to fix the economy that the president made. My conclusion is that our Congress should be doomed, not Obama. I don't know how much attention Americans actually pay to the news, nor how much they are influenced by facts and how much by opinion.
No, Pres. Obama is not doomed. What we need to do is elect more Democrats to the House and Senate so that his programs can get passed. Then maybe the economy will improve. (Cocoa, Florida
It will likely be his undoing. And, rightly so. It didn't have to be this way. If his sole focus for 2 years had not been to try to socialize the country with Obamacare and several other european style social programs, he would have had the time and $$$ to concentrate on jobs, the housing crisis and a variety of other efforts that would have the country heading back to economic progress. Obama and the Dems so this as their great opportunity to re-organize America. I think by now they realize WE DON'T WANT TO BE RE-ORGANIZED.
Depends on who the Republican candidate will be.
How can Obama's re-election be doomed? Have you really looked at the alternatives?
not if the msm can help it.you people did a great job in the last presidential election for obama.by not digging up the dirt on him.
Jack,
The answer is obviously NO because everybody knows that Obama inherited this mess and the Republicans have spent the last three years trying to sabotage every effort by this administration to get us back on the right track. I do wonder, though. Will Cafferty's constant daydreaming about an Obama defeat doom his chances for another season?
Jim
Reno, Nevada
I still think it is too early to tell. Likely, the dedicated republicans will vote for republicans and the dedicated democrats will vote for democrats. Yet again the swing vote will decide who is the next president. It seems these mostly young educated people will still vote for the flavor of the day when they get into the voting booth. They grew up on reality shows and sitcoms. It looks like these people "vote for the one that makes you feel good".
I do not think Obama's re-election is doomed mainly due to the fact that he has no one to run against. The ones leading the poles in the GOP clearly represent the super rich the 1 percent. I think you will see more of the 99 percent at the voting poles.
Phenix City, Alabama
No, Jack, it is the Republicans who insisted that the economy should come right as soon as the president took office. The White House has always said it would take a long time to turn things around.
I keep warning you against underestimating Obama. Only president to pass Affordable Health Care, to end Don't Ask Don't Tell, to fulfill America's promise of "Liberty and Justice for all" by becoming the first African/American president of the United States. Historical firsts are his forte. If you are worried about the econmomy, bet on Obama. He is money in the bank..
I don't think so Jack. The President needs to hammer the Republicans for blocking all bills that would help the unemployment #. If the perception is there, he will win re-election.
well – the Republicans are doing the best they can to send those unemployment numbers higher
I guess you don't think we're smart enough to know where that unemployment came from and how long it takes to fix.
Jack, the real question is whether voters will recognize that Obama is thwarted in enabling meaningful measures aimed at job creation by the ultra-right and intransigent Republicans in Congress who desperately want the unemployment rate to remain high (and wouldn’t mind a return to recession).
no, when America takes a moment to seriously think about the alternative to Obama? Obama will be re-elected.
Yup. Already has. When he has to talk about his record and leadership, what can he say? "I took a bad situation and made it worse. Forget about Congress. I had a full majority for two full years. I failed to lead. The Democrats in control for the first two years failed to lead. We failed.". Next question?
I have not joined the "Obama's Fault" bandwagon with you yet, Jack. Sorry. I think you should remind the folks why the economy is bad and folks are out of work, not encourage them to think that this president could do more. You disappoint.
Exactly the opposite, Jack. I don't think he can lose, for the exact same reasons FDR was re-elected. Americans still had a fresh enough memory of the true "villains" that caused the depression. They weren't yet distracted enough to let the wolves back into the henhouse. And Americans are awake again for the moment. One area where FDR was stronger was in his willingness to call it like he saw, i.e. his claim that "the growth of private power reaches a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism." So is what we're witnessing now, Jack.
Obama Doomed?? Not with this bunch of Clowns the Republicans offer!!
No, he did not cause the problems and with congress in the worst state of affairs since the first congress. We have the party of no(republicans )and the party of may be(democrates). so do not blame Obama because he does not hold the purse strings.
I would hope the American electorate would be wise enough not to "doom" the president alone on the unemployment figures that, after all, are affected by many more relevant factors than the president's action or inaction. There is plenty of blame to go around.
Obama has no leadership qualities whatsoever. However, if the Republicans cannot field a candidate that can lead and has a firm understanding of long term impacts of decisions we may continue to be leaderless.
I don't think so. The Republicans don't seem to have a credible candidate. The only candidate independents may support is Romney who the Radicalized Republicans and tea party will not vote for. The left is fed up with Obama compromising too much but because they don't have a primary they are stuck with him. I think much like the congress we are stuck with the mediocre candidates the partisans have produced. And will all be holding our nose again when we vote and not expecting much. About the only thing that would shake this thing up is if Hillary got drafted to run for president. I think she would win hands down. And I never cared much for her.
Hi Jack,
I am from PEI,Canada.
Give Pres. Obama another term. What other other choice do you have?
BT...
Well I'm "not" investing a vote in him again! He's been uninspiring, non-directive, un-imaginative, and NON TRANSPARENT!
He sold be a load of crap 4 years ago and it's time to send him packing. Yes he got some problems handed to him that he didn't start, but you know his "spending more than we have policies" just dug a deeper hole and we are indeed in trouble. I'm offended when he blames the rich and want to increase taxes on them. If everyone paid "some tax" then perhaps we could start getting out of this quagmire. I have not seen him demonstrate one instance of being frugal. Instead he's on Air Force One every chance he can and just running it costs the taxpayers $50,000.00 an hour. So this one time Obama voter is saying "don't let the door hit you in the butt on your way out"! Yes Jack, I'm bitter and angry and I have a lot of friends that are the same and they don't plan on wasting a vote on him again either.
He's not doomed, if only because the GOP field is so laughable. Newt can't win; he's corrupt. Romney can't win; he's a flip-flopper. Ron Paul can't win; he's a fringe joke. Bachman can't win; she's a lunatic. Santorum needs no explanation. And the rest are taken even less seriously. As we head towards the GOP nomination, there is not one candidate in the current field that could beat Obama.
If it isn't the jobless rate that dooms him, let's hope something else does. We need a new administration, although none of the Republicans really looks like an upgrade. Too bad the Democrats won't trot out someone else so we would have a choice.
since obama was left with a mess from bush .getting the rate down to 7.8% is a great accomplishment!
Not doomed, but uplifted. The GOP is caught between allegiance to Grover except when it comes to the other 99%. Americans are paying attention even as the GOP tries to suppress their voice in voter suppression.
We can only hope so! I am extremely fearful for our country if Obama manages to get re-elected. I love hearing the same old line from the left, "He inherited the worst economy ever!" The part they leave out is how Obama took that economy and made it worse in every way. He better be doomed!
Americans have embraced the welfare state, with its high taxes and regulations on business owners who are not hiring and giving needed raises. Europe has struggled with low GDP growth and high unemployment for decades. Why are we wanting to be like them?
Ending the job killing corporate income tax and replacing it with a 10% consumption tax and shrinking the size of the federal government will only save our nation from long term economic decline. The current 15 trillion dollar budget deficit, leading to record low CD, savings and money market rates, is what is the problem. Debt matters!
Folks, let's change our mentality on government and what we want it to do for us.
IConsidering the Republicn candidates, I think Obama will win. Obama looks like the only grown-up, sane person in Washington. I am a registered independent voter and none of the Republican candidates make sense to me: I dont lik Romney as I think he will hurt jobs not help job creation, I know too much of gingrisches past to vote for him, Bachman, Perry, Santorum are all a joke, Huntsman is a possibility but he will never make it through. The real jokester however i Trump. I mean give me a break. Obama will win re-election. He has my vote!
Most likely. But, remember, the unemployment problem is here because of Bush and 6 years with repubs in charge of both houses. You cannot fight a war on two fronts and not pay for it; have unregulated financial markets; no energy or fiscal policies to speak of, etc. and think all will work out.
As for me – I will be pulling all my money form the financial markets before next summer and ride out the next depression while the repubs fiddle as modern Rome burns.
Is President Obama doomed? "I sure as "HELL!" hope so!"
Obama will begin hiring new governmeent jobs Jan. 1st. Each of his Czars, the house & senate members will each get 1000 slaves, that's approximately 400,000 problem solved. He wasn't here when slaves were popular but he's been reading how nice it was to have them do everything for you.
Jack, ask him, maybe he'll give you one.
Is Obama doomed? Better to ask instead: Is the country doomed.
I would like to think that most Americans will realize the catastrophe that President Obama inherited. His handling of the economy may not have been superb, but considering the rate that jobs were being lost when he took office, I think that Americans should forgive an 8.6% unemployment rate. Blaming Obama for the economy's state is like blaming a pilot who takes over flying a plane that has just lost its engine.
The economy is bad and president Obama is still beating all GOP candidates in the polls, the alternative is not clear to what we already have. The GOP field is full of flip-floppers that says anything to win election...
I don't believe President Obama is doomed, I believe the Republican Party is doomed this election year. They don't seem to have genuinely credible candidates and he's been working hard to try to bring jobs back to America. Say what you will about him, and I've heard it all...he's gonna be back for another 4 year stint as president. Unless Sarah Palin returns, or Jeb Bush steps up to the plate...Obama in 2012 will be fact.
"The doom of the Democrate's has nothing to do with job's, but much more about so much a bigger picture. Obama and his black-trunk never did have any business in US politics! It was just Bolly-Wood haveing fun! It will be many more years before an Arab sit's on any chair in the white-house! It's most likely go with a Majority for black- democrate's, but the party is now what's really doomed!"
Doom NOT!....we have Myth the flip flopper and Newt the serial wife cheater!!!...now go figure!!!
Obama 2012!!!
I think under normal circumstances, President Obama would be doomed. However, those normal circumstances would mean that the GOP primary voters would elect a reasonable and respectable candidate capable of swaying the majority of independent political thinkers their way. There are only two candidates I see capable of adding the President to the unemployment line – Mitt Romney or John Huntsmann – with Huntsmann the most appealing due to his intellect, leadership and integrity. If the GOP primary voters instead choose Newt Gingrich, which it looks likely they may, the only one doomed will be the GOP.
I don't think so. Most sane and realistic folks know he is trying. I wasn't a huge fan of the President but I have to say I am amazed at what he has done and tried to do with all of the huge opposition he has gotten from the do nothing Republicans and spineless Democrats. We are not all partisans and some of us actually excercise our free will. I will be voting for him in 2012 unless something HUGE changes my mind.
Obama"s only hope is to pander to the 99% by implying (and NOT proving) that the 1% don't pay their "fair share". How about a number, Barack – they top 1% pay 34% of the taxes – If that's not fair, what is? A number, please!
yep and mix it with his baby passing obamacare he is doomed
Sorry, Jack. Unless some political catastrophe occurs, do you really think Obama loses to Romney, Gingrich, Perry, or Bachmann in the general election. You think these guys sound crazy now when they are surrounded by crazy? How do you think they will look next to a sane person in a national debate?
FDR is a great example to compare President Obama to simply because both men put the people and out Nation first in helping our country overcome adversity.President Obama shoyld be reelected if for no other reason than for the clueless GOP candidates that are being offered up as potential challengers and problem solvers none of whom I'd trust with with my cat let alone to have the moral or intellectual capacity to do what FDR did or President Obama is trying to do in spite of the GOP.
The problem would be if Obama stood in the way of progress. Obama has done everything he can to push congress to act; the thing that will doom him is his incapacity to lead a group of people to compromise. But how much blame can you put on him when the goal from the opposition since day one was to see him fail?
Exactly why should it? He didn't create it and he's not getting a whole lot of anything but obstruction from the GOP in solving it, now is he?
Yes, President Obama is doomed. He ran on a "hope and change" platform. But there would seem to be no hope, and no change. Wages are stagnant. Job tenure is shorter than the term of a lease, not to mention a thirty (30) year mortgage. Until wages spike, I don't want a job, or President Obama.
Obama is doomed by his lack of the fundamental skill of governing a modern democracy; his inability to bring opposing views into a working coalition and move the country forward.
Instead, Obama campaigns 24/7, 365/365 on the taxpayers' nickel, polarizing the country into abject paralysis.
The only thing worse would be a lame duck Obama administration lacking in the most basic skills of government.
How can President Obama get this economy moving again when a very large mass of our people believe things like the fellow wrote below:
"He was doomed when he sent most of our manufacturing jobs overseas, including those employed in the service industry. His refusal to recognize we have a decaying infrastructure, where many could work doesn’t help his chances.
Aside from unemployment, he created a fifteen trillion debt with Obama Care. How can you reelect this guy? Got to go Jack, Rush is on the Radio."
No president since FDR has had to follow eight years of a mentally and ethically challenged regime like that of W and his band of thieves either. In the land of the blind, the man with one eye is king. And while I think Obama could have done a better job, this group of candidates are not only blind, but deaf and dumb, in the more modern sense of the word, too. Back in the clown car with all of them, and let Obama do the job he was elected to do.
Obama has failed to show any leadership, other than to just talk. He lacks the essential skills and personality to get the job done, is not convincing that he truly understands and can offer concrete answers. If he had any, he would be talking them up, he hasn't and can't. We suffer a huge sucking sound at the top, taking a phrase from years ago, "its the economy stupid"....
It depends on who he runs against. Bachman? Perry? Gingrich? Paul? No, he's not doomed. Romney? Huntsman? Possibly.
The President's doomsday will not hinge upon his own doing, but simply the misplaced priorities of the United States Congress, whom partisan values outweigh the American people. The very people they were sworn into office to protect. The unemployment of our country hinges on Obama's ability to mend this gap. However, we all know how hard it is to get toddlers to share candy, and unfortunately it seems our congress can't get out of the ball pin and act their age.
The GOP has it all worked out for them to take the White House, Congress and the Senate. It is a big MAFIA Plot.!!!
Of course he could be re-elected. Compared to the slate of potential Republican candidates, President Obama is a genius and he has effectively led our country through the minefield left by the Bush Administration. I continue to claim he is the best President of my lifetime, and I am 75 years young.!
Jack,
I'm 24 years old and in a month I will turn 25. I have not held a full time job since December 2008, and listening to you and Wolf I have to say at times you guys can gang up on him when he inherited this mess from both Bush and Clinton. Granted most of it came from a GOP control Senate and a while house where companies and banks were allowed to get away with a lot of stuff.
I'm one of those people who voted for and will vote for the President in 2012 because I think he is the man that can get use out of this mess.
So do I think that President Obama is doom? My answer is no, I don't think he doomed for the simple fact that he had worked to turn around this economy even with people saying he can't. He is working to bring us back to our former glory even with Republican working against him.
He has shown me at least that he is willing to do the job even when people on the Hill are fighting over junk and holding us hostage. So no he is not doomed, Congress is doomed if they don't do their job.
Jack: The posters kill me here.... Blame, blame and blame... When is this Obama's economy? Obama didn't inherit a bad economy..........He fought for it in 2008, remember?
President Obama is no more doomed than you are, Jack
No Jack, he's NOT doomed. He'll make the case in November that he was handed far too much to completely correct in just 4 years. And if you're really really unsatisfied with the way things...put THIS guy (the GOP nominee) in office and go back 4 years! Obama will be given another term and rightfully so.
Yes, Obama's re-election should be doomed. REAL unemployment is atrocious (far above the 8.6% figures given). Workers didn't "Drop Out" of the workforce. They were "Dumped" off of the official books. How do you quit looking for something (a job) that doesn't exist?
Re-election of President Obama would be impossible except for one thing. No Republican running could possibly beat him. The Domocatrs won't win; the Republicans will lose.
Jack:
This president was doomed from the get go when he came up with that ridculous stimulus package which never got off the ground. Shovel ready means scooping up the dog stuff and falling over and falling in it. I have been out of work for 9 months and I cant even get a part time job. And I have Microsoft certifications! Blame Bush I dont care I just need a job.
Jack, President Obama inherited this mess from George. So, how can he be doomed when his first 4 yrs has been spent on trying to clean-up his mess. He deserves another 4 yrs to finish cleaning up George's mess.
Not at all. With the horrible Republican potential presidential candidates, Obama could just sit back and laugh, let the candidates bury themselves just as Herman Cain did, and win the re-election by default. I'm sure there are many that hope Obama doesn't get re-elected, but let's hope they are more concerned with the president's ability to improve America's future than the personal aspects of the president himself.
No the President is not doomed. No one else could have done any better. We as Americans sold our manufacturing overseas. We have become a global economy and until we start bulding and producing again in our country we will never be back to where our unemployment was. I believe there is no Republican candidate that could do any better and might have done even worse. I am proud of our President.
I would say it depends in part on how high the rate was when they took office. In other words, are all the guys who lost with a rate higher than 7.2% people who began their terms with lower unemployment than that? There's a difference between unemployment going up under your administration, and unemployment going down, but not by as much as you'd like.
No Democratic President since FDR has been faced with such terrible Republican candidates either. Herman Cain is out, Romney is wishy-washy on issues, and Gingrich isn't trusted because of all the affairs. President Obama looks pretty strong by defualt.
First off the unemployment rate is way higher then the 8% being reported. Ron Paul was right yesterday during his interview on CNN when he stated that the actual number is more around 22%. Even you yourself Jack stated that there were at least 300,000 people who droped off the unemployment claim last month that aren't counted towards the 8%. And what bout the temp. holiday part time jobs that many people have started in the past month? Not to mention that Obama has a lot more to worrie about when it comes to his reelection other then the "good" unemployment numbers. How about his oversepnding and his hawkish military views?
Absolutely not! Have you seen the GOP candidate field? I mean, those candidates are a joke!!! America was losing hundreds of thousands of jobs during the Bush administration, has this been forgotten? Yes, the economy is not what we want it to be, but with a congress intent in sacrificing our economy just for political reasons it is not easy to get back to pre-recession levels. Americans should vote for who they think is better able to lead this country forward and that is obviously president Obama.
Lets hope. He should be called The Divider In Chief with his class warfare, tax the rich, us against them diatribes. He blames everyone except his own failed big government, tax and spend policies. He has done more damage to this country during his tenure than Al Qaida. And instead of leading – he is campaigning. He is a failure.
No it won't because is the Republicans who created this economic mess and the ones who have obstructed every single biill and program designed to help create jobs, help people keep their homes, keep enough teachers in our schools, have decent healthcare for all, give us what we earned in Medicare and SS. President Obama has done an outstanding job as the ONLY person doing any leading or work for the PEOPLE. Who needs Republicans? They have done nothing but destroy or try to take away everything from the PEOPLE. Throw them all out in 2012 and watch how much more successful President Obama and the Democrats can be when we have people working in Congress who actually care whether the People of this nation live or die. President Obama will win in a landlslide and I will be right there doing what I need to do to vote despite the voter suppression laws Republicans have tried to use in desperation to stop people from their right to vote. Republicans need to go away and come back when they have decided to be hiuman beings again,
His doom is from The House of Rejection blocking his every move. Of course the Republicans don't want the economy to improve. Especially now. If it did, the clowns lined up to run against him would lose their only bullet.
No. The American people are smarter and more patient than that. We understand who caused this economic problem, and that it will take awhile to solve it.
Absolutely not. Most Americans know how and why our economy is in the dire straits that it is and will vote for the greatest janitor in chief in this nation's history. Obama is just getting his stride.
The election won't be decided on the numbers; rather, it will be decided on the electorate's evaluation of who can lead us out of the tank we are in–both at home and abroad. Unfortunately, the cast of characters on both sides isn't promising. The Republican's leading candidates (Flip-flop Mitt and Nero Newt) are not offering a believable alternative that is good for most of us. No-Drama-Obama still doesn't get the chronic need for tough, practical leadership. In the end, Obama by a nose, with most of us holding ours.
Jack,
For the next decade or so, this is the NEW NORMAL.... all the baby boomers who had decent jobs that did not require a college education are stuck now: to old to be re-educated, not productive enough to compete with new technology and globalization. This President as well as the next President will get elected and re-elected with unemployment over 7-8%.
Too bad the Blame Game and not Economics 201 will drive the election debates for years to come.
Sure Obama can be re-elected. Why would I vote for the same ideas( thr GOP) that put us in this environment? Albeit slow, the economy is improving.
I can't remember the last time that I actually voted for someone, It seems as though i'm always voting against someone. Having said that, If you look at the field of wanna be candidates, i can easily see Obama winning a second term.
Who cares about President Obama's reelection chances, with those numbers the better question is – Is America doomed? I don't think so, but our politicians and media are doing everything they can to hasten its end as we know it.
Absolutely not. Consider this – If it weren't for bills such as the stimulus package, the entire automotive industry would have gone bankrupt. Imagine what the unemployment rate would have looked like after that. These statistics are meaningless unless you look at the situation that Obama was presented with when he was elected – the shear fact that the unemployment rate has actually started to improve rather than get worse is an accomplishment in its own.
President Obama is not doomed, but he is on notice that the American people are losing patience with the bad economy. However, the American people are also putting Congress on notice and there is plenty of blame to spread around. When the defacto head of the Republican Party says "I hope he fails", then that sets the agenda for the political opposition to thwart any efforts our new President makes to set the country on the road to recovery. What will be interesting is whether the American people "doom" the Republican opposition in the congressional elections. You know, the House is up for grabs.
It doesn't matter Jack. If Obama wins reelection, the GOP will continue to block everything he tries to do. If the GOP wins the White House, the Dems are going to have 'payback time' and will block anything the GOP president wants to do! The two party system is a joke. These guys just care about 'winning for their party'. The courty comes second. Sad but true.
Funny, in this time of turmoil, not one candidate is running on a platform or restoring cooperation and compromise. It's all anger and hate!
So it takes 8 years for one president to run the economy into the ground and we expect the predecessor to do a full 360 and have it all better in 2 years? And I say 2 years because the president has been dealing with a hostile, obstructive Congress during his 3 years in office. The Republicans in Congress have made it their reason for living to block every attempt the president makes to prosper America forward but they have not come up with a plan. We have seen job growth for 20 consecutive months in a row under our president, give the guy some credit. He deserves more time to help get our economy back in a full upswing.
Republicans cause this so we are supposed to vote out Obama? What happened to Boehner? Thought he was going to create all these jobs. He hasn't done anything...let vote his sorry a ss out!
President Obama was doomed before we the people, took a look at all the Republican candidates (excluding Jon Huntsman) and realized that the devil we know is better than the angel in the bush.
Have you looked at the motley crew being offered by the opposition? I think he will do just fine. The American people are not really that stupid to be duped again by the uber wealthies agenda...