Analysis: Obama must regain momentum after Gates

AP ^ | August 1, 2009 | Jennifer Loven

[Cheap_Hessian]

WASHINGTON (AP) - The success of President Barack Obama's ambitious agenda—from health care and climate change to education—could depend on how quickly he recovers from the sharp drop in support among white voters after criticizing a white policeman's arrest of a black Harvard scholar.

Obama's widely publicized effort to defuse the first racial flare-up of his young presidency by inviting the protagonists to the White House last week for beers and conversation ended well by most accounts, even though there were no apologies.

Cambridge, Mass., police Sgt. Joseph Crowley and Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. agreed to disagree about the July 16 confrontation at Gates' home and pledged to meet again.

Obama's impromptu comments about the incident could become a defining moment. Nearly immediately after Obama's remark that police had "acted stupidly" in arresting Gates, his approval rating plummeted among whites, dropping over two days from 53 percent to 46 percent in a poll by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center.

If Obama is to have success with the policy changes he wants, he can't afford to shed white support. Not to mention the disaster that losing the affections of many in the blue-collar, Reagan Democrat constituency would spell for any re-election campaign.

Lawrence Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota's Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, said he was stunned at how poorly Obama, normally so controlled, handled what Jacobs called "the first major personal debacle for the president."

[coloradan]

How about increase his downwards momentum?

[johniegrad]

Obama's widely publicized effort to defuse the first racial flare-up of his young presidency by inviting the protagonists to the White House last week for beers and conversation ended well by most accounts

Sorry, it only ended well for kneepadded sycophants like yourself trying to spin for your hero.

[Mr_Moonlight]

AP still cheerleading for the Zero, apparently

[digger48]

Try as they might, they can’t put the stench of a racist back in the bottle.

[Bahbah]

How long is this woman going to keep referring to his “young” presidency in an effort to cover up for this goon who was supposed to be the coolest, smartest, smoothest guy evah!

[Manic_Episode]

...and the dumbass fell for it.

[Manic_Episode]

Doh! Clicked wrong thread.

Who's the dumbass now Manic?

[Caipirabob]

We'll, I liked it when he apologized for being a racist b@stard...Oh wait, he never apologized...

[TornadoAlley3]

Jennifer Lovens her some O.

[Gator113]

Analysis: Obama must Resign Here, Resign now......

[Cheap_Hessian]

I will be extremely surprised if Obama ever apologizes for any mistake he will make throughout his presidency.

[Doogle]

..yeah he can gain momentum by lying and saying he's not killing off senior citizens and giving illegals the care they need....that’ll help him

[digger48]

I will be extremely surprised if Obama ever apologizes for any mistake he will make throughout his presidency.

Jennifer makes the point for him. The future of his agenda rests on Whiteys approval.

and it'll be Whiteys fault when he fails.

[shattered]

I hope you are right but people have short memories.

[uncbob]

I will be extremely surprised if Obama ever apologizes for any mistake he will make throughout his presidency.

Same as Bubba

[himno hero]

Analysis: The market has spoken.

Business is betting against him going anywhere or doing anything.

[Kansas58]

Momentum?

How does a con-man gain “momentum” after he has been outed as a fraud?

This was not a spelling error, at the black board, like former VP Dan Quale made.

This was a CHARACTER affirming moment, when we all saw inside Obama’s twisted, petty soul.

Obama will have better days, to be sure, but Obama will NEVER have the support he had even two months ago, ever again in his life!

[Intolerant in NJ]

Lawrence Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota's Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs...ah yes, Hubert Humphrey - ain't he the guy who once said that "a culture is judged by the compassion with which it treats the youngest and most elder of its people" - Obama the abortion champion and Medicare abolitionist must have missed that bit of American history, along with much of the rest of it........