Business
Economy dealing blow to Obama’s 2012 hopes
‘OBAMA NOT WORKING’
“Barack Obama has been in office for three years and what he’s done hasn’t worked. It’s time for him to go,” Republican contender Tim Pawlenty said while campaigning in Iowa.
Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney has signaled a potential general election strategy, shadowing Obama’s travels around the country with targeted criticism of the president’s economic record in those regions.
When Obama returned home to Chicago to celebrate his birthday last week, Romney aired a Web ad slamming Obama’s economic leadership and saying Chicago had seen a 48 percent increase in unemployment under Obama.
In recent speeches, Obama made clear he wants to focus on spurring job growth now that the debt-ceiling talks are done. He welcomed Friday’s jobs report showing the unemployment rate ticked down slightly to 9.1 percent but said more was needed.
He will need to show significant improvement in the jobless rate to ease public worries, and he will need to do it early enough in 2012 that it sinks in with voters.
Obama also faces a tougher political map next year, with his approval plunging in traditionally Republican states he captured in 2008 like Indiana and North Carolina and in critical Rust Belt states like Ohio.
“I’m a Democrat but there is no sugar-coating it, things aren’t good,” said Democratic consultant Dane Strother. “The only thing on Obama’s side right now is time. A week is an eternity in politics and we have 15 months.”
Polls show Obama remains personally popular, and Democrats find hope in 2004. That year many voters unhappy with President George W. Bush’s performance were reluctant to oust him amid the Iraq war and economic challenges.
“When people are frightened, they are more likely to stick with the guy they know than take a chance on the guy they don’t know,” Democratic strategist Karen Finney said.
“They still like Obama. As long as people feel like he’s trying and he’s making some progress, that matters,” she said.
Republicans, beset by internal battles between conservative Tea Party movement activists and a more moderate pro-business faction, also must provide a viable challenger. Romney trails Obama in polls and faces a challenge winning over his party’s own conservative base.
“At the end of the day it’s two people, one on one, and it will be a new dynamic,” Strother said. “But there is no question if 15 months from now the economy is in the tank, the election will be tough for Obama. Doable, but tough.”
Source: Reuters
Polls show at least two-thirds of Americans think the country is headed in the wrong direction, consumer confidence is hitting two-year lows and majorities disapprove of Obama’s handling of the economy.
