Andrew Sullivan, in remarks prior to the Speech, congratulated President Obama for showing the Democratic party where their cajones actually were located.
I have to say that, as rumors and reports came in last week that Obama was going to propose a straightforward redistribution from the mega-mega-rich to the struggling middle classes, I could scarcely believe it. I mean: how often does the Democratic party actually exercise solid pro-active political judgment? How often do they seize the policy initiative from Republicans? How often do they propose things thay passionately believe in and unabashedly direct the message to the vast majority of Americans treading water in rougher and rougher seas? How often does a winning Congressional party get effectively marginalized in the public debate just after a stunning mid-term win?
The president has spent the first six years of his presidency waiting for the moment he could take that credit, knowing it was coming. On Tuesday night, it came. Even with five separate responses to the president’s address, there was nothing Republicans could say to fight the growing sense that Obama’s policies are working and that the GOP has been wrong for the past six years.
Prior to the State of the Union last night, NBC News dropped a poll that needs examining.
45% of Americans say they’re satisfied with the state of the economy — the highest number in 11 years (since Jan. 2004). Let us repeat: 11 years!!! In other words, it means the country, mentally, has exited the Great Recession. “For the first time, we have numbers that kind of bust out of the Great Recession Era,” says NBC/WSJ co-pollster Bill McInturff (R). […]
[President’s Obama’s] overall job-approval number now stands at 46%, which is his highest rating since Oct. 2013 during the government shutdown. And 49% of Americans approve of Obama’s handling of the economy — the most since right after he won re-election.
I love when polling discrepancies happen. 46% approve of Obama’s job performance. 49% approve of Obama’s economic job performance. So 3% of Americans out there hate Obama generally but love what he is doing on the economy.
Strikingly, however, Congress and Republicans haven’t seen their numbers go up. Just 16% approve of Congress’ job (unchanged since December), and only 23% approve of the job congressional Republicans are doing. Maybe more significantly, only 35% believe divided government — with Democrats controlling the White House and Republicans in charge of both chambers of Congress — works well for the country. That’s a reverse from previous NBC/WSJ polls (in 1996, 1997 and 1999), which found majorities in praise of divided government. (This “divided government” result is a Conventional Wisdom debunking result; one of those sea change moments in public opinion.) And then there are the parties’ fav/unfav numbers. The public gives the GOP a 25%-46% rating, down from 30%-45% a month ago. By comparison, Democrats are at 35%-38%, when they were at 37%-39% in December. Bottom line: You can hardly tell from our NBC/WSJ poll that the Republican Party was the big winner from the midterm elections just two months ago. Somehow, Obama and the Democrats stole the Republicans’ post-election honeymoon. Or the Republicans somehow lost it.
According to the same NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, Mittens Willard Romney III and John Ellis Bush are not looked upon favorably by the American people. Just 27 percent of Americans now offer a positive rating for Romney. 40 percent who give the 2012 GOP Nominee negative marks. Only 52% of Republicans approve of him. Regarding Jebby, only 19 percent of Americans give Bush a positive rating, while 32 percent assess him negatively. His fans include just 37 percent of Republicans, while 15 percent offer a poor assessment of him.
Forty-five percent of self-described conservatives and 52 percent of Tea Party supporters view Romney positively in the latest survey. But just 30 percent of conservatives and 29 percent of Tea Party backers say the same of Bush.
How’s Hillary doing?
While both Republican candidates post a net-negative rating, likely Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton currently enjoys an overall positive assessment from the American public. Forty-five percent of Americans rate her positively, while 37 percent rate her negatively. Among Democrats, three-quarters give Clinton a thumbs up, with just 7 percent disagreeing.