Yesterday, Jim VandeHei of POLITICO infamy penned a meandering two-page article on how Obama is in trouble.
Now, Obama is indeed in trouble because there’s still anxiety over the economy, and problems in the Eurozone could have an effect on America, which could throw us right back into a recession. Plus, Republicans are pretty united in their hate for the president.
VandeHei, though, wrote a ridiculous piece that was poorly-sourced and contained no new analysis, just some boilerplate POLITICO shit that passes for journalism at that place.
From VandeHei:
To hear Democrats (and much of the media) tell it, President Barack Obama is a man on the rebound. The president turned in a strong State of the Union speech, picked a smart political fight over taxing the rich and authorized another heroic Navy SEAL mission in terrorist territory. Sounds like a recipe for reelection, they say.
…
A new CBO report grabbed lots of headlines for projecting the deficit will top $1 trillion this year — making Obama the first president ever to pile up $1 trillion or more every year in office…The CBO projects unemployment will rise, hitting 8.8 percent in the third quarter of the year, the heart of the campaign. That’s terrible politics. Obama advisers have told us repeatedly on background that if unemployment is above 8.5 percent in the final months of the campaign, it will be extremely hard, if not impossible, to win. The advisers say independents will not return to Obama if it looks like economic growth is anemic and uncertain and it looks like his policies did little, if anything, to create new jobs under his watch.
This morning, the jobless rate fell to 8.3 percent, though it did contain some discouraging numbers about the participation of the workforce. However, just one day ago POLITICO was touting this “new CBO report” that said unemployment will hit almost 9 percent by the election.
POLITICO responded by linking to this article which says the CBO says the stimulus added 3.3 million jobs.
Either the CBO report exists or it doesn’t. We don’t know, though, because POLITICO is letting their amateurs try and link stories.
If Obama is on the rebound, someone forgot to tell swing voters in the most important up-for-grabs states in 2012.
Gallup, which both parties praise for its detailed appraisals of voters’ moods, just crunched the numbers in the 12 states that can authentically be called swing states. The results were hardly great news for Democrats.
Romney and Obama were tied.
Heck, Ron Paul is running only a few points behind Obama, and he’s yet to win more than 23 percent of the vote in a GOP primary or caucus.
POLITICO proves this by sourcing nothing from Gallup. Seriously. They don’t provide a link to this supposed poll. It’s as real as the CBO report that says unemployment will go back to 9 percent by the election.
Money
Let’s rewind six months for a moment. Back then, Obama advisers talked privately of their decisive fundraising advantage for the general election, how the combination of the reelection campaign, the DNC and a web of outside groups set up by Obama intimates would together raise north of $750 million and possibly $1 billion to bury the GOP.
This could still happen. But Obama fundraising has not been as strong as many Democrats had hoped or anticipated. More troubling for Democrats, there are signs that Republicans, especially if front-runner Mitt Romney wins, could match the most prolific fundraiser in the history of presidential politics, thanks to rich businessmen and their handy-dandy super PACs.
Oof. Here’s where they get ’em. Obama thought he would have the edge in money. He’s dooooomed! Cue POLITICO today:
It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
When Republicans took over the House in a stunning 2010 landslide, it seemed a given that money would rain down on the newly ascendant party.
But Democrats dominated the cash dash in 2011, with the party’s campaign arm consistently outpacing its GOP counterpart. And during last year’s fourth quarter, more than a dozen upstart Democratic candidates outraised the incumbent Republicans they’re hoping to unseat — an early indication that momentum is shifting in the challengers’ direction.
To sum it up: Obama is doomed because of a supposed CBO report that says unemployment will rise again; because of a poll that shows Obama allegedly tied in swing states with Mitt Romney and because of a money advantage that Republicans don’t really have.
I think this is the quickest a POLITICO article has ever been made obsolete! VandeHei deserves a big pat on the back.
Captain Swag 