Bad News in the Polls for Obama

Polls are interesting and worthy of attention in that they indicate a trend in public opinion. A recent CNN poll shows Obama's approval rating below 50% for the first time--a CNN poll. Just 48% of American adults approve of the job he is doing, while 50% disapprove, down 7% in the same poll from last month.

As the American Pundit blog points out, "American adults" is the demographic most favorable to Democrats. Rasmussen, the pollster I probably follow most, uses "likely voters" in their polls, the demographic typically more favorable to Republicans. In Rasmussen's recent poll asking the same question, 54% disapprove of the way Obama is doing his job. If Obama is upside-down in a CNN poll of American adults, it's a pretty likely indication that the winds are changing for this guy.

What seems to have people hacked off about him in this CNN poll? 39% vs 59% think it was a good idea for Obama to announce a timetable in Afghanistan. As Charles Krauthammer points out in a recent column, that was a move worthy of a politician, not a commander in chief. And the LA Times is reporting that it was Obama who decided, in his war council meetings, to make the exit date public: "'Let's name the date,' he said, according to participants." So the make-it-public exit ramp decision is squarely on him. Way to go, Champ.

"As commander in chief, I have determined that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan. After 18 months, our troops will begin to come home," Obama said at West Point on Tuesday night.

It's disturbing to think we have rookie political hacks calling the shots in the White House. But who could have known that electing a JUNIOR SENATOR with 145 days of Senate experience as POTUS could have bad consequences? We can only hope that decisions such as telling the Taliban when we'll be leaving Afghanistan will have equally bad consequences for ObamaTeam in 2010 and 2012.