Obama’s popularity drop with students unwarranted
As excitement and anticipation for President Barack Obama’s presence at the Democratic rally last week was rising, I could not help but notice how many USC students seemed to be badmouthing our president.
A large number of Republicans comprise the student body at USC, and understandably so, as our student body is made up of students from all backgrounds and from across the country.
But it seems that, instead of just the usual hard-liners, an increasingly diverse range of people do not approve of Obama’s performance in office thus far.
In fact, Obama’s approval rating among college students has dropped to a meager 44 percent, down from 60 percent in May 2009, according to an AP-MTV poll.
The American people — conservatives and liberals alike — seem to possess a litany of inaccurate assumptions about Obama’s time in office thus far.
Some believe he raised taxes, which hurt the economy.
This is false — Obama lowered taxes for 95 percent of working families in the United States through a provision in the stimulus bill. In fact, the tax cuts detracted from the impact of the stimulus.
Some think Obama bailed out the banks. This is also untrue.
Former President George W. Bush and his treasury secretary, former Goldman Sachs CEO Robert Paulson, requested the bailouts while Bush was still in office. The bailouts passed and began to take effect before the 2008 elections.
Others believe Obama’s healthcare reform cost our nation $1 trillion and will bankrupt us.
The truth is, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the overhauled healthcare policy will lower the deficit by $138 billion.
Finally, many people think that Obama has not actually helped our economy.
Unemployment was already very steadily on the rise when the transition from the Bush administration was taking place, but the main thing to consider is that Obama’s stimulus package raised employment by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million jobs, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
These myths — often combined with insignificant but numerous criticisms of Obama’s lifestyle — seem to be the main reasons behind Obama’s recent drop in popularity.
While discussing Obama’s administration with a few friends, for instance, the story of Michelle Obama taking an overseas vacation was brought up.
I had originally mentioned the trip to defend Obama’s foreign policy decisions, but instead Obama was criticized for allowing his wife to spend government money on a vacation.
They felt that if she wanted to take a vacation, at least she could have done it in the United States.
Rather than focusing on actual legislation, students and the media alike are emphasizing trivial mishaps in the White House.
In fact, Obama should be getting a lot more credit for his accomplishments in office.
Since his inauguration in 2009, Obama has fought tirelessly to push legislation while being constantly obstructed by partisan politics.
In addition to passing the most ambitious reform agenda since the New Deal — healthcare reform — Obama has successfully implemented financial reform as well.
Lastly, thanks to the administration’s work, the nation’s underprivileged finally can look forward to decent access to healthcare.
Obama and his administration might not have accomplished everything they had intended by this time, but that is to be expected.
Our country cannot afford to make its political decisions based on sensationalism.
It’s time to recognize Obama for the impressive range of goals he has already achieved.
Gokul Agrawal is a junior majoring in business administration.
Obama’s “impressive range of goals” are why Democrats are about to get a severe lashing.
“Students” were mentioned for some reason (is academic uni-thot really that bad?). What about everyone else? Are you claiming their growing opposition to Obamagenda is unwarranted?
Why do I care that “Obama lowered taxes for 95 percent of working families in the United States through a provision in the stimulus bill”? He’s doing everything in his power to raise them for my parents.
Just because you disagree with something does not mean that it is “unwarranted.” I dislike Obama precisely because of the legislation that he has supported and the intended outcome of his efforts. I wake up every morning and hope that he fails in his attempts to alter our country.
And guess what. Trivial mishaps count. And I hold Obama accountable for every one of his, as I did Bush and as I do every other politician.
Voting for B. Hussein Obama was the hip thing to do, but that was so 2008. I’m focusing on the Mary J prop now.
Who should USC students believe? You, or their lying eyes?
How much “cool aid” did you drink before writing this piece?
You got president currently, who wears rose colored glasses, but doesn’t know how to execute in pragmatic ways. The idealism and his prose tone in speeches is something that makes me more cynical.
Most of the “facts” stated in this article are entirely wrong and easily disputed. Where did you pull them from, the White House website? Do you think your readers are stupid?
“Some believe he raised taxes.” He sure as hell did, with the passage of Obamacare alone. How do you think this is going to be paid for?
“Some believe he bailed out the banks.” He bailed out everyone but the banks!
“Others believe healthcare will bankrupt us.” Yeah, you might actually spend ten minutes researching this instead of quoting the an OLD report from the CBO.
“Many think Obama has not actually helped our economy.” Now, I cannot IMAGINE why anyone would think this! I mean, just look around — we had recovery summer, and now everything’s peachy! And by the way, NOBODY believes that bogus “we saved or created jobs” crap. We know all about government census workers (who are now unemployed again anyway). Have you seen the unemployment figures, Gokul? Are you wearing blinders?
Remember that analogy that Obama has beaten to death about the car being driven into the ditch? Well, there are a lot of questions about how it got there in the first place. But he hasn’t budget that car one inch — in fact, he’s pushed it so far into the mud that we might never be able to get it out.
I think it’s ironic that Democrats tacitly agree that overspending led to this problem, but then insist that VASTLY overspending will solve it. How’s that working for us? Good GRIEF, Gokul, WAKE UP. He’s not your savior.
This is what happens when we vote on emotion. Would USC hire a president that had only two years of experience running a Junior College in Illinois? I don’t think so. It is obvious that this man was not ready to take on this office. Even though I voted for Bush I did not agree with everything he did but at some point we are going to have to stop using his name in every negative article regarding Obama. It’s about time he started taking responsibility for his actions and lack of experience.
Everything that Bush did, Obama could undo, but did not. The healthcare package was so large and so rushed through, without keeping the campaign promises, that it cannot be considered a positive. What good is passing a half-baked law through Congress? It has provisions for 99 new review boards – a political patronage scheme. Additional boards may be created without new laws passed. I guess if you are a student planning to go into the government sector it might be a reason to stay positive about the president, but most students aren’t looking for government paychecks for their entire career. Perhaps your next article could outline the promises that have been kept. The perception throughout the country is that he made promises and then focused on an entirely different agenda.