A new Gallup poll released Sunday shows Pres. Barack Obama's approval rating has dropped below 40 percent for the first time ever, FoxNews.com reports.
The poll "says 39 percent of Americans approve of Obama's performance, while 54 percent disapprove. … A deeply unsettled political landscape, with voters in a fiercely anti-incumbent mood, is framing the 2012 presidential race 15 months before Americans decide whether to give Obama a second term or hand power to the Republicans. Trying to ride out what seems to be an unrelenting storm of economic anxiety, people in the United States increasingly are voicing disgust with most all of the men and women, Obama included, they sent to Washington to govern them.
Indeed, the rising dissatisfaction of voters with Obama played a role in luring Texas Gov. Rick Perry into a race for the Republican nomination that doesn't officially get underway until the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 6 and New Hampshire primary on Feb. 14. Perry, Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman Jr. all spent parts of their weekend stumping for votes in the Granite State.
"Romney and Perry will be competing to face possibly the weakest incumbent since Jimmy Carter, with the world in turmoil and the economy adrift," Ross Douthat wrote in Sunday's New York Times. "Six months ago, it still seemed as if Republican primary voters might be choosing a sacrificial lamb to run against Barack Obama. Now it looks as if they might be choosing the next president."
Obama's initial response to sagging poll numbers is a three-day bus tour, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday morning.
"Obama Monday will embark on a three-state, five-town bus tour deep in the heart of the American Midwest, hoping to tell the public — and potential voters — some small-business success stories and highlight economic development in rural areas. He'll also be looking to rebut criticism that he's not focused on finding solutions to bolster the flat-lining economy.
Inevitably, perhaps, President Obama has become entangled with Washington politics, caught up in its fractious mud-fighting. He tries to distance himself from the squabbling, but he mostly appears to be vexed and scolding. He needs a way to break free, a way to show that he is a true leader who can transcend beltway-cable TV politics. To be sure, it is hard for incumbent presidents to campaign as reformers—in effect, to stand apart from the government they run. Still, Obama needs to find a way to rise above, and in a credible fashion that promises real change.
That chance to reclaim his leadership credibility? Taxes. Both Republicans and Democrats have begun to call for tax reform that would lower tax rates while raising additional revenue by eliminating tax breaks and loopholes. The plans advanced are all woefully complex, however, and invite endless battles against individual interest groups—the equivalent of political house-to-house combat. Obama needs to cut through the morass and offer a straightforward, easy-to-understand solution with broad popular appeal.
He needs to be truly bold. He needs to return to the 2008 Obama, the visionary of hope and change, to re-invent the crabby lawyer who now occupies the oval office. He can do that in one sweeping appeal: by proposing that we repeal all tax breaks. Every single one.
This is not as radical as it sounds. Economists overwhelmingly agree that broadening the tax base and getting rid of distorting incentives would be good for the economy. It would be an essential step in reducing the crushing federal debt. It could also be popular—for Obama, now languishing in the polls, it could be the key to re-election.
True, some popular tax breaks would have to go. No more deductions for charity or mortgages. But the benefits far outweigh the costs, politically and economically. If you get rid of tax breaks, tax rates can be cut in half. Individuals would have only minimal dealings with the IRS, if any at all. No more nightmare paperwork at tax time.
Obama could pose a clear choice: A vote for him would be a vote against the special interests who have a stranglehold on Washington, who carve out loopholes that benefit them but not you. He could propose true change, not just dreamy rhetoric. He'd have to stick with it—no half-heartedness, no split-the-difference, no hedging for campaign contributors. In effect, he'd be betting his presidency by proposing a national referendum. But, by placing himself above the usual partisan wrangling, he could run as president of all the people.
Obama likes to say to his lieutenants, "We were elected to do big things." Here is a way to get re-elected by doing a really big thing.
