More Obama change to believe in: Americans now see him as a partisan Democrat June 7, 2010 | 2:22 am One of the 2007-08 Obama presidential campaign's changes that Americans believed in by the many millions was his oft-repeated promise to work with all sides no matter what and change the harsh political tone of Washington. Good luck with that tired professed aspiration. George W. Bush promised the same thing a decade ago. That worked well for several minutes. Well, Bush is gone and the majority parties have switched places. Now Democrats run the whole D.C. show.
And after almost 17 months of Democrat Obama's White House administration, it appears Americans have given up on his promised bipartisanship, or even on less partisanship. It's an impressive squandering of good will from his inaugural glow.
A new Rasmussen Reports survey finds 61% of likely voters believe the nation's capitol will see more, not less, partisanship during the next year. Which includes, of course, the unfolding midterm election campaigns leading up to Nov. 2.
The figure expecting increased partisanship is 50% higher than during the early days of Obama's term when only 40% were pessimistic about political cooperation.
Meanwhile, another new poll out this morning from Gallup finds Obama's approval among Hispanics has slipped 12 points just since January, apparently due to unhappiness with the president's unwillingness to pursue comprehensive immigration reforms this year. Only 57% of that core Democratic audience now approve of Obama, a steady decline in 2010.
The Rasmussen survey found 52% now think Obama is governing as a partisan Democrat; 61% believe his party's majorities are governing Congress in a partisan way under the deficit-stimulating leaderships of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Independents think both Republicans (54%) and Democrats (61%) are acting in partisan ways.
Also, 19% of the 1,000 surveyed last week said they believe there will be more political cooperation in Washington during the next year. But they've probably sobered up by now.
-- Andrew Malcolm
