Liberals Beginning to Realize They’ve Overestimated Obama’s Popularity?

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A steady drip, drip, drip of polling data — including a new Battleground poll showing Democrats on the losing side of an “enthusiasm gap” — has started to undermine the carefully maintained perception of Obama’s re-election as inevitable. Ed Morrissey comments:

If Obama trails in a D+8 poll by 6 among the extremely likely voters with four weeks to go, he’s in deep trouble — and his debate performance certainly won’t boost him.

Meanwhile, also via Hot Air, we find the WaPo’s Chris Cilizza as the first liberal analyst to try getting ahead of the chance that Obama might lose:

Obama’s debate performance also raised a bigger question: Is he overrated as a candidate?
Four years ago, that question would have been unimaginable …
Fast-forward to this campaign — and specifically its last two major public events — and you see Obama’s flaws as a candidate in starker relief.
His acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention was flat and, rhetorically, felt like a patchwork effort — five or six different speeches all clumped into a single address. His debate performance was glum and defensive, leaving anyone who watched with the overwhelming sense that the president would have rather been anywhere but sharing the stage with former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (R).

That the question “would have been unimaginable” in 2008 is likely a result of Cillizza having his head inside the liberal media echo chamber where never was heard a discouraging word about Obama. Democrats were pumped up and eager for action after eight years of Bush, and having a completely untested candidate allowed them to project onto Obama whatever they wished to see there. If you bought into that hype (as Cillizza evidently did), then it was easy to imagine Obama the Light-Bringer riding to glory astride a flying unicorn, eating Magic Peace Flakes for breakfast and farting rainbows all day long.

Reality? What a bummer. It’s like the old joke: What did the Grateful Dead fan say after the dope wore off? “Dude, this band sucks.”

Two weeks ago, I warned that Democrats were “spiking the ball early,” but they didn’t listen to me then, and I don’t expect them to listen now. Cillizza is shrewd enough to see the value of hedging his bets, being one of the first liberal media types to warn of the possible defeat ahead, but Nate Silver seems unwilling to kick the Kool-Aid habit just yet.

Remember that a month ago, Silver gave 4-to-1 odds against Romney. Nate’s confidence is quietly fading, as he starts to wonder what excuses he’ll make on Nov. 7 if he has to explain why he was wrong.

“Ride Right Through Them — They’re Demoralized as Hell!”

UPDATE (Smitty): Welcome, Instapundit readers.

170 comments

  1. Obama the Light-Bringer riding to glory astride a flying unicorn, eating Magic Peace Flakes for breakfast and farting rainbows all day long.

    This is the BEST description ever of the fluff that is, and always has been the foundation of Obama true believers.

  5. You guys way over estimate yourselves. Its not that we like Obama so much..its that we dislike doubletalking rich boys who stash their money in another country…its that we still want our unions and its because liberals actually read.

  7. You mean doubletalking “rich boys” like the Kennedies and Kerry and Debbie Wasserman-Schulz? You worry about Romney’s legal bank account but you got squat to say about Pelosi and Feinstein stealing BILLIONS in government contracts? Your grandmother, mother….

  8. Dude…Why you want to disparage the Grateful Dead. You don’t have to be a Stoner to enjoy their music.

    Yes, it seems like Liberals are tripping over each other trying to distance themselves from what has become the disaster called Obama.

  10. Don’t try to deflect, sweetcakes. Your cheats and thieves get a pass? Not here. Now what about the Kennedies and Kerry and Debbie Wasserman-Schulz? What about Pelosi and Feinstein?

  13. Stacy’s just jealous that the Dead were able to make tons of money doing music their way as long as they wanted to (and lived), while his own rock career was less successful. Presumably there wasn’t weed strong enough to make him sound good.

  15. “That the question “would have been unimaginable” in 2008 is likely a result of Cillizza having his head inside the liberal media echo chamber where never was heard a discouraging word about Obama. Democrats.”
    Oh, I’m sure Chris Cillizza had his head somewhere, but it wasn’t inside an “echo chamber” (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).

  17. The joke might have been picked because it was close to the situation at hand (the choom is wearing off in this case); not because the dead were involved. I like them too.

  21. If you believe that liberals “actually read”, you might want to check out a book on spelling, punctuation, and grammar, so that there’s a chance that we will believe you’re a liberal.

    BTW, nice nom de blog. Real classy.

  22. Obama IS a “double talking rich boy”…where the hell have you been? Obama may not be as rich as Romney, but so what, he is STILL very rich. He is partying with “rich boys” (and girls) like Jay-Z, Beyonce, Sarah Jessica Parker, Anna Wintour, and just recently he met with a whole cabal of MULTI-milionaires in the mansion of Hollywood MOGUL Jeffrey Katzenburg. It has nothing to do with rejecting “rich boys” you dolt. Your party is FILLED to the brim with multi-multi millionaires and billionaires like
    1. Sen.Harry Reid
    2. Rep. Nancy Pelosi
    3. Rep. Diane Feinstein
    4. Rep. Barbara Boxer
    5. Rep. (and TAX EVADER) Charles Rangel
    6. Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schulz (who also has a GREAT deal of bigtime money in OTHER COUNTRIES!)
    7. John Kerry
    8. John Edwards (who once hauled in $50,000 to give one speech about….poverty?)
    9. Albert V. Gore Jr.
    10. Bill and Hillary Clinton
    11. Sen. Chuck Schumer
    12. Rep. Carl Levin (MI) who has a vacation home on Martha’s Vineyard.
    and
    13.Rep. Nita Lowey is the wealthiest member of New York’s congressional delegation and one of the
    richest members of Congress. She’s also a double dipper. The Westchester Democrat, who is worth at least $14.3 million,
    collects a $10,302 annual state pension on top of her $174,000 congressional salary.

    Don’t give me crap about “rich boys”. Puh-leez.

  24. Ya know, I’ve been thinking about pointing out that the lefties called Obama the LightWORKER (perhaps anticipating his $1.4 billion in vacations and golf tours), where the LightBRINGER is actually Lucifer, but… nah, tomato/tomahto….

  26. I recall The Economist stating in a Fall 2008 editorial that the US was about to elect an unvetted candidate. Evidence of President Obama’s leadership was scant in his term as US Senator and as an Illinois politcian, so it is no surprise that many overestimated him as a leader.

  31. Union auto workers were part of the GM demise. Overpaid and lazy, ask my neighbor who was making $100 pr hr and did nothing all day. I have little respect for them.They should abolish all unions!!!

  33. Here and in other venues I’ve seen people call Obama ‘The Lightbringer’. Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t that Lucifer’s name before the war in Heaven when he was cast down? I thought the word ‘Lucifer’ meant ‘Lightbringer’. I’m thinking Milton’s _Paradise Lost_ here, or possibly Dante’s _Inferno_; some literate reference in any case.

    Again, I may be wrong, but if I’m correct I think that that specific ‘nom de guerre’ is more correct than you know.

  34. Great guitar riffs, not to mention the truth inherent in the lyrics. Who would have guessed (pun intended) that a band could be prophetic?

  35. The Grateful Dead didn’t “suck.” They were, in Bill Graham’s words, “The only band that did what they did.” They were amazing. It’s your loss you never got to see them. If you had, you’d be really embarrassed to have quoted that stupid old joke.

  36. I recommend Pete Townsend doing the acoustic version of “Won’t Get Fooled Again”. The man is absolutely amazing! Youtube’s got it.

  39. Back during the 2008 campaign, my oldest daughter (20 years old at the time) had this guy pegged when she said “I can’t stand to listen to him, because, as much as he talks, ne never says anything.”

    As I said over at Goldstein’s place, he’s an empty suit cut from Marxist cloth. He’s not as smart as all liberaldom thinks he is; ergo, they’re not as smart as they think they are.
    I pray it’s not the case, but I fear that when they lose, things will get even uglier than they are.

  49. You fucking coward. You cannot debate anyone. I hope your ex-wife took your fat, unlovable ass to the goddam cleaners. You will die alone, full of hate and years of regret. And chicken wings.

  50. I find it strange, in hindsight, that any candidate would be successful in passing himself off as a blank slate upon which others could project any expectations whatsoever–I mean, I can imagine Obama being counseled to allow others to project their expectations onto him, but I find it hard to believe that he was able to get away with using that as a selling point. It just seems so transparent–and not in a good way.

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