Presidents Approval Rating in Critical Condition

COMMENTARY Political Process

Presidents Approval Rating in Critical Condition

Mar 22, 2010 3 min read
COMMENTARY BY

Policy Analyst

As senior fellow in government studies at The Heritage Foundation, Brian Darling...

The American people are tired of the same old warmed-over politics in Washington, D.C. and President Barack Obama is hurting in the eyes of the public. According to a recent Gallup poll, only 46 percent of Americans approve of the President’s job performance. Some 47 percent don’t approve. The plunging poll numbers are a result of his obsession with an unpopular health care reform bill.

This same indicates Americans don’t have much hope for the economy. Only 10 percent say the economy is excellent or good. Half think the economy is in poor condition. Yet the president and liberals in Congress forge ahead with an idea that would lead to a de facto government-run health care industry. They’ve also passed a potentially economy destroying Global Warming bill and plenty of wasteful earmarks for special projects.

Slaughtering the Constitution

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and House Rules Committee Chair Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) have come up with a plan to get legislation passed without an actual vote in Congress. This plan has been called “Deem and Pass,” “Self-Executing,” and the “Slaughter Rule.” Liberal leaders in the House argue that because Republicans used this potentially unconstitutional procedure to pass legislation in the past, they should be allowed to also abuse the clear words of the Constitution.

Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution states, “Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it becomes a Law, be presented to the President of the United States.” Our Founding Fathers would be very upset to know that the House of Representatives wants to pass legislation into law without a vote. Speaker Pelosi announced her support for the Slaughter Rule because, as she stated, House Members then “don’t have to vote on the Senate bill.” Using this procedure to pass legislation without a Congressional vote might not pass constitutional muster, or win approval from the American people.

Global Warming Legislation

Congress will eventually move past its obsession with comprehensive health care reform and tackle measures to address so-called “Global Warming.” An outline of legislation authored by liberal icon Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.), moderate Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Independent Joe Lieberman (Independent-CT) was circulated last week. Together, they have reached out to special interest groups in an attempt to get the support of environmentalists and the inside the beltway business lobbyists.

A draft outline shown to industry lobbyists suggests the American people would be the big losers in this deal. The stringency of the carbon emission reduction targets mimics last year’s draconian Waxman-Markey and Boxer-Kerry bills. Both proposals would be tremendously harmful, leading to millions of lost jobs. To make matters worse, the trio would slap a new tax on transportation fuels and so-called “carbon-tariffs” could ignite a war with India and China.

The Senators hope direct rebates and handouts will buy off the American people for higher gas taxes in the name of Global Warming. The economy is struggling and it’s becoming apparent the science behind global warming has been manipulated. This legislation would provide big handouts to environmental and business lobbyists. Of course, the big losers in this equation would be the hard working American consumers who drive long distances and people who have to pay higher prices for products because sharply increased transportation costs would be passed on to consumers.

Earmarks

The battle over eliminating Congressional earmarking has begun. House Republicans took a one year break from the earmarking process and House Democrats have sworn off earmarks for profit-making enterprises. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has stated repeatedly that there are three parties in Washington: the Republicans; the Democrats; and the Appropriators. In the Senate, the appropriators are winning. They killed an attempt by Sen. Jim Demint (R-S.C.) to ban earmarks for a year. At least 68 Senators supported earmarking, even as our nation carryies a $12.6 trillion debt.

Those who love earmarking say that it’s worthwhile for a Member of Congress to dictate how money is spent back home. Yet with Congress getting into the habit of waiving pay-as-you-go rules for every new spending idea and too many wasteful earmarks (the infamous Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska or the Lobster Museum in Maine), Congress has yet to prove it can be trusted to spend taxpayers dollars wisely. Brian Baker, president of the new anti-earmark group Taxpayers Against Earmarks, told HUMAN EVENTS that “the American people are angry and they are sick and tired of politicians wasting money through questionable earmarks.”

The voters want a president who’ll stop this compulsive obsession with things that would do more harm than good to America. Americans are fed up with a Washington that is too focused on ObamaCare, Global Warming and earmarks. They want jobs, a healthy economy and a smaller federal government.

 
Brian Darling is director of U.S. Senate Relations at The Heritage Foundation.

First appeared in Human Events