PrintAugust 12, 2010
Her highness has some popularity problems
The White House has grand plans (because, the President and his gang hail from Chicago they "make no small plans") to deploy Michelle Obama to help them with midterm elections. Barack Obama is becoming radioactive and Democrats have started using every excuse in the book to avoid welcoming him at airports or being seen in photos with him. (Behind the scenes, Obama has his uses as he raises money among high rollers for their campaigns). So the First Lady is supposed to help restore Democrats midterm fortunes. The problem is that Michelle Obama is no longer the draw she once was. From the Washington Examiner:
The number of Americans who have a positive opinion of First Lady Michelle Obama has fallen in the last 16 months, according to the new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. In April, 2009, 64 percent of those surveyed by the Journal/NBC said they had a positive impression of Mrs. Obama; today, the number is 50 percent. That 50 percent personal approval is just slightly above President Obama's personal approval figure, which stands at 46 percent in the new poll.The specific survey question asked respondents to rate their feelings about Mrs. Obama "as very positive, somewhat positive, neutral, somewhat negative, or very negative." The first lady's rating, a combination of the very positive and somewhat positive answers, has fallen from 64 percent in April '09 to 55 percent in January 2010 to 50 percent today.Mrs. Obama's personal popularity is lower than former First Lady Laura Bush's ratings in the same poll by the same pollsters. In December, 2001, 76 percent of those surveyed had a positive opinion of Mrs. Bush. In February 2005, that number was 65 percent. In October 2006, with her husband's job and personal approval ratings plummeting, Mrs. Bush's personal approval rating was 56 percent.
Americans may have a problem with her royal trip to Spain. Americans don't care much for royalty; remember our Revolution. We don't like when the President bows before the Saudi King or the Emperor of Japan, but treats democratically elected allies, such as the Prime Minister of Great Britain or the leader of Israel, as lepers. They don't like domestic royalty either and perceive the couple in the White House as increasingly people who see themselves as our King and Queen.
The Obama have their royal court (and courtiers) and even their jolly jester and fool (Joe Biden). They take fancy trips and vacation in palaces here and there. They treat their subjects with disdain (people who cling to religion and guns; who just don't understand the royal vernacular and who need things such as ObamaCare better explained to them using smaller words -- as Valerie Jarrett so helpfully informed us.
A royal penchant for pageantry is present, too, as we recall the Denver stadium staging. And that most aristocratic of sports (besides fox hunting -- and that we know the liberals would never do) golf has pride of place in presidential amusements.
Barack Obama's excessive use of the first person singular is a mite different than the royal we, but the narcissism that animates its use is the same. And, of course, there are the royal feasts and command performance entertainments at the White House: the endless musical soirees. But as history has shown, uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.
