Nader: War Criminal Obama Worse Than Bush.  "He's gone beyond George W. Bush in drones, for example.  He thinks the world is his plate, that national sovereignties mean nothing, drones can go anywhere."

Obama supporters shocked, angry at new tax increases.  With President Obama back in office and his life-saving "fiscal cliff" bill jammed through Congress, the new year has brought a surprising turn of events for his sycophantic supporters.  "What happened that my Social Security withholding's in my paycheck just went up?" a poster wrote on the liberal site DemocraticUnderground.com. [...] Shocker.  Democrats who supported the president's re-election just had NO idea that his steadfast pledge to raise taxes meant that he was really going to raise taxes.

Obama Voters Furious About Tax Hikes.  Disillusioned Obama voters are waking up to face the reality that Obama didn't exempt them in his quest to steal money from all Americans to pay for his expanding government.  It turns out that those making $30,000 a year will pay more taxes than those making $500,000 because of the deal Obama pushed for after the fiscal cliff debacle.  Obama voters, the joke's on you.

Gallup: Obama average first-term approval ratings among lowest in modern history.  A Gallup poll released on the morning of Barack Obama's second public presidential inauguration shows that his first term was marked by a level of public disapproval exceeded in the modern era only by Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford.  Obama "averaged 49.1% job approval during his first term in office, among the lowest for post-World War II presidents," Gallup said Monday [1/21/2013].

Obama supporters served unglamorous feast of Cheez-Its, peanuts and pretzels at glitzy inauguration party.  Whoever coined the term 'to the victor goes the spoils' did not have President Barack Obama's official inauguration party in mind.  They knocked on doors for him and helped him win re-election, but when Obama supporters put on their tuxedos and ball gowns to celebrate the start of his second term in office, they feasted on pretzels, peanuts and Cheez-its.

Gallup: Obama lowest-rated re-elected President since WWII.  Barack Obama managed to get himself elected to a second term anyway, even with historically anemic approval numbers. [...] Why does this matter for Obama?  He will argue this week, starting today, that the American people validated his agenda, but clearly that's not the case.

Obama Job Approval Rating Lower than Nixon's.  According to Gallup, President Obama is tied with George W. Bush for most unpopular re-elected president since Gallup began measuring presidential job-approval in 1945.  In fact, Gallup found that apart from Bush, "every president... has had a higher job-approval rating in the January following his reelection than Obama has."  Obama's approval rating is at 52.

Labor Department union boss: We were happier under Bush.  The local 12 chapter of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is so frustrated with the political appointees at the top of the Labor Department that they are now reduced to pining for the Bush years.

Youth abandoning Obama; just 43% approve.  The just-released Economist/YouGov poll reports that only older Americans age 65 and above have a worse view of the president, with 53 percent disapproving of his performance and 47 approving.  Among voters aged 18-29, 49 percent disapprove of Obama's job performance while 43 percent approve.  The rest are not sure.

Black Chamber of Commerce CEO on Obama: 'I Had Hopes Because He Was Black, Shame on Me'.  National Black Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Harry C. Alford told The Daily Caller that he "ignored" President Obama's "spread the wealth" comment in 2008 and "had hopes" for him "because he was black."

National Black Chamber of Commerce President: Barack Obama 'Made a Fool Out of Me'.  National Black Chamber of Commerce President Harry C. Alford blasted President Barack Obama today [3/4/2013] on the Andrea Tantaros Show.  Alford says that he supported Obama's election 2008, but now says that Obama "made a fool out of me."  Alford says that many Americans, including prominent citizens like radio host Tom Joyner, explicitly voted for Obama because he is black.  Alford says that he joined in and voted for Obama to be the first black president, but now recognizes electing Obama was a huge mistake.  He slammed Obama for continually campaigning rather than leading, and for failing to perform the basic functions of his job while doing everything he can to keep growing government power over the citizens.

Poll: Government dissatisfaction highest since Watergate.  More Americans cite dissatisfaction with government as the biggest problem facing the country than at any other time since the months leading up to the Watergate scandal, a new poll finds.  Twenty percent of those surveyed call dissatisfaction with government the country's biggest problem, according to a Gallup survey on Thursday [3/14/2013] — up from 16 percent the month before.

Democrats Fret Over Obama Poll Numbers.  Democratic strategists are increasingly worried about the decline in President Obama's job approval ratings.  "We aren't panicking but it's a source of concern," a senior Democrat told me.  The latest example is Wednesday's [3/13/2013] Washington Post/ABC News poll, which finds that 50 percent of Americans approve of Obama's job performance, down 5 percentage points from January.  The decline is especially apparent among independents.

PA: Obama Job Approval Collapses to 44%.  A Quinnipiac poll released today [3/14/2013] confirms what we're seeing throughout the polling world about the state of President Obama's approval rating:  It's nose-diving.  According to Quinnipiac, in just forty-five days, Obama's approval rating in Pennsylvania has dived 7 points, from 51% to 44%.  Meanwhile, his disapproval rating soared from 46% to 51%.

I Know why the Lame Duck Squawks.  This has not been a good week for President Obama.  I think it will not be the worst week of this year or this term, which I predict will get worse as his own personality flaws and patently partisan strategies make his lame-duck term even more impotent than is usually the case.

Noam Chomsky: Obama's Inexplicable 'Attack' On Civil Liberties 'Goes Well Beyond Anything' Imagined.  Speaking with the liberal blog's Mike Stivers, Chomsky expressed dissatisfaction with the current president's record on civil liberties:  "I personally never expected anything of Obama, and wrote about it before the 2008 primaries.  I thought it was smoke and mirrors.  The one thing that did surprise me is his attack on civil liberties.  They go well beyond anything I would have anticipated, and they don't seem easy to explain."

Obama Fatigue.  These are not good days for Barack Obama.  His second term agenda has broken down.  The Democratic-controlled Senate did not pass even a single part of his gun-control agenda.  His effort to use sequestration to batter Republicans has backfired.  His budget was sent up to Capitol Hill two months late — and was immediately dismissed.  If immigration reform passes, it will be because Democrats kept the president on the sideline, fully aware that his presence in negotiations with Republicans would only make success more unlikely.

Out of His Hands.  Obama's call for an increase in the minimum wage is going nowhere.  Nor is his call for further measures to reduce carbon emissions.  Education, energy, and transportation initiatives have faded away.  The president was forced to explain at this week's press conference that the implementation of the Affordable Care Act is not, despite what members of his own party are saying, a "train wreck."  His approval rating is below 50 percent.  Six Democratic senators are retiring (so far).

Turning on Obama.  From reporters to opinion writers, from newspapers to television, after a mere four and a half years of economic fecklessness, foreign policy failure, unseemly narcissism, and a Nobel Prize for deeds to be named later, prominent liberal-leaning pundits and organizations may have finally realized that reality, if not journalistic ethics, demands a more clear-eyed look at the president they have been so deeply invested in.

Tell me if you've heard this one before: Obama to focus on jobs.  Obama's like the kid who constantly breaks windows playing ball too close to the house, does a crummy job mowing the grass, won't clean his room, whines about wanting cookies before dinner, and then demands a raise in his allowance every few months.  Heck, the USA Today writer can't even find it in himself to write a full size article, just a few paragraphs, having seen this again and again [...]

Obama is not done cutting defense just yet.  April was a pretty awful month for President Obama, but it's too early for Republicans to start celebrating his political demise.  People keep trying to compress the political calendar, wanting to convince us that time is running out for Obama, even though he's barely past 100 days in his second term.  Yes, Obama's gun control initiative was a resounding failure.  It didn't pass the Democrat-controlled Senate.  California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein's assault weapons ban got only 40 votes.

Obama unmasked.  Friday's bombshell admission that the IRS has been targeting political opponents since 2010 may have been trumped on Monday as it was revealed that the Obama Justice Department used its immense information gathering power against Associated Press reporters.  What a disaster for the Obama administration.

The End of the Obama Illusion.  President Obama is shattering the illusions of his supporters, and eyes are opening, even among his former media allies. [...] They are disillusioned and angry liberals who are starting to grasp that they have been lied to, who realize that a skeptical stance is necessary when examining a narrative offered by team Obama on Benghazi or the IRS scandal.  Even worse, the media have discovered that they are themselves targets of government abuse, just like those Tea Partiers the IRS was picking on.  The Associated Press, whose newsroom and reporters' personal phone line records were secretly subpoenaed, is collectively owned by members of the mainstream media.

Even liberals are leaping off the bandwagon.  You know the worm has turned when even MSNBC's Chris Matthews and Rachel Maddow hold their noses at the stench from Barack Obama's scandals — when so many stories from the so-called liberal press now describe the erstwhile Messiah as "aloof," "arrogant" and "holier than thou."

Chris Matthews sours on Obama.  President Obama "obviously likes giving speeches more than he does running the executive branch," Chris Matthews said tonight [5/15/2013].  Yes, you read that right:  The MSNBC host who in 2008 felt a "thrill going up my leg" after hearing Obama speak has grown disenchanted.  Tonight's episode of Hardball saw Matthews delivering a rare, unforgiving grilling of the president as severe as anything that might appear on Fox News.

Obama, the Betrayer.  The right noticed long ago that Obama is a cold fish and an arrogant loner, a man willing to abandon longtime mentors in the blink of an eye if need be (think Jeremiah Wright).  It never seemed as though Democrats cared, though, as long as Obama served their purposes and they served his.  Now that he's become a little bit of an embarrassment to them, Obama may find, perhaps for the first time in his life, that a number of his fellow liberals are willing to throw him under the bus.

Joe Scarborough, Piers Morgan: Obama Scandals Prove Gun Advocates Aren't Crazy.  How big of a wake-up call are the Obama scandals, especially the ones surrounding the seizing of phone records from the Associated Press and the IRS's targeting of conservatives?  So big that two of the media's most shameful and shameless gun control advocates — Joe Scarborough and Piers Morgan — have finally conceded that arguments made by pro-Second Amendment activists against the expanding of background checks might not be so ridiculous.

A Liberal/Progressive Epiphany.  Now that the low-information/low-knowledge segment of the country is waking up to what conservatives have been pointing out since Barack Obama was first sanctified by the left, we are being treated to the spectacle of a liberal epiphany.  How, they ask themselves, could this have happened?  How could they have been suckered so completely?

President's supporters change tune.  You can feel their pain as disillusioned devotees begin peeling Obama stickers from their bumpers, no longer anxious to share an identity with him as he slips further and further into a festering pool of scandal.

Obama rouses the cicadas of the press.  [Jay] Carney's job has become more difficult in the past two weeks.  Where his explanations were accepted at face value in the past, he is now met with deep skepticism.

We're All Fox News Now.  [A recent New York Times editorial] was remarkable as much for what it didn't say as for what it did.  There were no snide asides about Fox News, or qualifications along the lines that "even Fox" has First Amendment rights.  Nor did the Times editors take any shots at George W. Bush, congressional Republicans or any other familiar antagonist.  They simply defended Fox News's right to engage in news-gathering and denounced the Obama administration's assault on it.

Ten key reasons why the Obama presidency is in meltdown.  This is undoubtedly a period of steep decline for the Obama presidency, whose imperial-style big government approach is being increasingly questioned not only by American voters, but also by formerly subservient sections of the liberal-dominated mainstream media.  In contrast to his first term, Barack Obama is finding himself less and less shielded by the press, and far more vulnerable to public criticism.

The Totalitarianism at the Heart of the Obama Scandals.  The Obama administration's legs are wobbling under the weight of so many scandals lately that whole chunks of the edifice — the IRS, the NSA, the DOJ — are threatening to implode, particularly without support from the normally adoring media.  Even the New York Times — the New York Times! — is no longer willing to bolster an administration whose totalitarian urges have been exposed to the light.

Berlin Speech: 200,000 for Obama in 2008; Only 6,000 Today.  The White House pool report reveals that only 6,000 will be in attendance for Obama's Berlin speech today.  Last time around, when Obama delivered a speech in Berlin in the 2008 presidential campaign, when he was still a senator, 200,000 folks came out to see him.  Update:  The pool reporter says only 4,500 were present for Obama's speech.

Surveillance programs divide Democrats.  Revelations about the Obama administration's expansive domestic surveillance programs have opened a chasm between Democratic elected officials and their progressive base — one that could be tricky for the party's future presidential hopefuls to bridge.

CNN: Majority No Longer Trust Obama.  [B]ack in 2006, only 52% of Americans disapproved of how President George W. Bush handled government surveillance of Americans.  Today, a full 60% disapprove of Obama on the same issue.  This is likely due to the fact that Bush always made clear that the War on Terror was his foremost concern and that he was doing everything possible to make us safe.  On the other hand, Obama ran against Bush's surveillance state and now tells us that the War on Terror is pretty much over.  But then we learn that, rather than wind down the surveillance along with the war, he has put it on steroids.

Poll: Colorado voters souring on Democrats.  Colorado Democrats achieved one-party dominance in November, but now voters appear to be having a case of buyers' remorse.

Bill Ayers: Obama Presidency Gets 'Failing Grade,' He Should Be Tried For 'War Crimes'.  Bill Ayers believes President Obama gets a "failing grade" for his presidency, and should be tried for "war crimes," along with all living presidents who have engaged in acts of "terrorism" abroad.  Sitting down for an episode of RealClearPolitics' "Morning Commute," Ayers told host Charlie Stone that, on policy, Obama receives a "failing grade" along with the "F-minuses" he's given previous presidents like George W. Bush and Richard Nixon.

The Editor says...
Mr. Ayers seems to be bitterly disappointed with Mr. Obama.  Perhaps one day this will drive him to spill the beans about the authorship of Obama's alleged autobiography.  Now would be a good time, because an additional scandal wouuld be lost in the current storm of public outrage.  On the other hand, Mr. Ayers has seen his share of prosecution, and is therefore not someone who should be openly rallying for the prosecution of others.

Do You Trust This Man?  There is a common element to the so-called Obama scandals — the IRS targeting of conservatives, the fatal attack in Benghazi, and widespread spying on U.S. journalists and ordinary Americans.  It is a lack of credibility.  In each case, the Obama administration has helped make controversies worse by changing its stories, distorting facts, and lying.  The abuse of trust may be taking a toll on President Obama's reputation.

Liberals and Conservatives, Unite!  Liberals are running from Obama like Occupy Wall Streeters from Irish Spring.  Each of these scandals (Fast and Furious, Benghazi, IRS-gate, spying on the media, NSA spying on the American people, et al.) are, ostensibly, grievous enough, when taken alone, to rise to the level of "high crimes and misdemeanors."  When taken together, however, they are manifestly impeachable.

Obama's Turbulent European Vacation.  President Obama's honeymoon with the world is over.  What was it, exactly, about Obama's controversy-marred trip to Germany and the G8 Summit in Northern Ireland that fell so flat?  Ummm, how about ... everything?

Noam Chomsky: Obama Is 'Running Biggest Terrorist Operation That Exists'.  Continuing his streak of fiercely criticizing President Obama's foreign policy and civil liberties record, pre-eminent left-wing scholar Noam Chomsky told GRITtv that this administration is "dedicated to increasing terrorism" throughout the world via its own "terrorist" drone strikes in foreign lands.

Exodus From SS Obama Continues as Arianna, Spitzer Jump Ship.  How many more erstwhile apologists can President Obama lose before he's rendered little more than a figurehead?  Two more just joined the forlorn procession — left-wing queen bee Arianna Huffington and disgraced former New York governor turned itinerant political commentator Eliot Spitzer.

ACLU to Obama: 'We are tired of living in a nation governed by fear'.  Under President Obama, the United States is "a nation governed by fear," the American Civil Liberties Union says in an open letter that echoes the criticisms Obama has made of George W. Bush's national security policies.

Passion fades for President Obama among Democrats.  Obama's favorability stands at 53 percent, compared to 44 percent of Americans who view him unfavorably.  While 85 percent of Democrats regard Obama favorably, the number of those who are strongly supportive of him has dropped since the start of the year.

The Enduring Mystery of Barack Obama.  The odd thing about Barack Obama is that he has never been a popular president.  Yet somehow he was re-elected, and he continues to be taken seriously as a political force. [...] This is not a function of the scandals that have bedeviled Obama's second term.  On the contrary, a plurality of voters have strongly disapproved of his performance since 2009, when it became evident that he would govern as a leftist.

Obama's Climate Change Plan Telegraphs Desperation, Disconnect.  His poll numbers are plummeting, and his grand speech at the Brandenburg Gate last week had a 95% drop off in attendance.  Russia and China are laughing at him over the NSA leaker.  He's under siege for abuse of power and McCarthy-style tactics to intimidate both the press and conservative groups.  The majority of Americans now oppose the forthcoming implementation of his signature legislative proposal, Obamacare.  He's fresh off a G8 conference where he insulted Catholics and all people of faith by calling parochial education divisive and an impediment to peace.  He's about to embark on a whirlwind Africa trip that will cost upwards of $100 million while agencies deal with Sequester cuts.  His Attorney General was just caught lying to Congress.  Perhaps most importantly, "hope and change" still hasn't come to the more than 21 million Americans who are unemployed or underemployed.

Hope Isn't Enough: Without Conviction or Destination, Obama Flounders.  Perhaps it was inevitable, that any president branded and sold as "Hope" was destined to disappoint.  But in these scorching summer doldrums of 2013, you have to wonder:  did it have to be this disappointing?

A union cloud over Obamacare as broken promises infuriate the president's base.  As the details of Obamacare become more known, Americans become more concerned, and for good reason.  President Obama promised that if you were happy with your health care, you could keep it.  As with so many other government promises, this, too, turns out to be an empty one.  Even people you think would be solid Obama supporters are waking up to the more damaging aspects of the Affordable Care Act.

Foreign Policy and the Vision Thing.  When Barack Obama ran for president in 2008, he promised that America would be more respected and liked in the world.  Foreign leaders would bow to his wishes.  Ancient conflicts would end.  In a speech before hundreds of thousands in Berlin, he vowed to do nothing less than "remake the world."  Instead, President Obama's foreign policy has been a failure tactically and strategically, almost from beginning to end, mostly because he lacks strategic vision.

Obama's unconstitutional steps worse than Nixon's.  President Obama's increasingly grandiose claims for presidential power are inversely proportional to his shriveling presidency.  Desperation fuels arrogance as, barely 200 days into the 1,462 days of his second term, his pantry of excuses for failure is bare, his domestic agenda is nonexistent and his foreign policy of empty rhetorical deadlines and red lines is floundering.  And at last week's news conference he offered inconvenience as a justification for illegality.

The Plight of the Obama Supporter.  So you voted for Barack Obama back in 2008, and perhaps you helped to re-elect him in 2012.  How's that working out for you?  Chances are, not well.  Indeed, the evidence is overwhelming that those who most supported Obama have fared the worst under his policies.

The Scandal Society.  Remember Black Jesus?  The Lightworker?  The One?  The next Lincoln, the Democrats' Reagan, the neo-FDR?  He is now standing next to Tricky Dick and Slick Willie, caught in a quartet of burgeoning scandals, charged with rewriting the facts when they became inconvenient, harassing the press, and using the Internal Revenue Service to get at his enemies, subverting their rights of assembly, and speech.

As a Democrat, I am disgusted with President Obama.  What are you thinking, Mr President?  Is this really the legacy you want for yourself:  the chief executive who trampled rights, destroyed privacy, heightened secrecy, ruined trust, and worst of all, did not defend but instead detoured around so many of the fundamental principles on which this country is founded?

Who Are the 47 Percent?  The roof is pretty much falling down around President Obama's head. Obamacare, finally rolling out and crashing on takeoff, is more unpopular than ever.  The economy remains dismal, with labor force participation hitting near-record lows and young people's job prospects in the toilet.  Poverty rates are sky-high, with record numbers on food stamps.  The federal government is about to run out of money again, having incurred nearly $17 trillion in debt.  In foreign affairs, Obama has become a laughingstock.

A legacy for Barack Obama.  A war nobody believes in, led by a man nobody trusts.  If Barack Obama is still looking for a legacy, here it is.

Obama's Economy Hits His Voters Hardest.  Mr. Obama was re-elected with 51% of the vote.  Five demographic groups were crucial to his victory:  young voters, single women, those with only a high-school diploma or less, blacks and Hispanics.  He cleaned up with 60% of the youth vote, 67% of single women, 93% of blacks, 71% of Hispanics, and 64% of those without a high-school diploma, according to exit polls.  According to the Sentier research, households headed by single women, with and without children present, saw their incomes fall by roughly 7%.  Those under age 25 experienced an income decline of 9.6%.

Things Fall Apart for Obama.  If Obama continues to flounder, as I expect, the media cofferdam around the less savory aspects of his past may be breached, and all sorts of awkward questions relating to his background, including the financing of his higher education by a Saudi, as alleged by the former Borough President of Manhattan (a black Democrat) may come to the fore, considering that he is proposing intervention on behalf of the side supported by the Saudis in Syria.

Left revokes President Obama's liberal card.  Now many liberals feel sure: Barack Obama was not the one they'd been waiting for.  The man who won the presidency in part due to his opposition to the Iraq War was suddenly leading a charge to use military force against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.  The Republican refusal to go along was to be expected.  The liberal backlash, though, was particularly intense.

President Obama holds fire — but media doesn't.  President Barack Obama is damaging his presidency, weakening America's standing in the world, and displaying "inexplicable" incompetence.  The media figure making those accusations isn't Bill O'Reilly or Rush Limbaugh, Charles Krauthammer or Glenn Beck.  The critic doesn't host a right-wing talk show, anchor a Fox News program, or write for the pages of the Weekly Standard.  In fact, he's not even a conservative.  It's Joe Klein, the Time Magazine political columnist.

Obama Then and Now: the Rashomon Effect.  I believe that we are witnessing the gradual, or possibly not so gradual, decomposition of the emotional consensus that put Obama into the White House in 2008 and, not without a struggle, returned him in 2012.  On every front, domestic as well as foreign, statements that seemed apposite a year or two or three ago suddenly, ominously, have acquired new and less pleasing valences.

Warren Buffett: Scrap Obamacare and Start Over.  You know things are bad for President Obama when even Warren Buffett has soured on Obamacare and says that "we need something else."

The Obama Mythology Has Been Shattered.  Poor Jay Carney.  In the wake of this debacle he's trying to recreate the mythic Obama — the post-ideological, objective, empirically driven statesman who would, through "smart diplomacy," open an exciting new chapter in relations with the Arab and Islamic world.  It was all a mirage; and all the world now knows it was a mirage.

Politico: Obama is a snake-oil salesman.  Politico is actually wondering why Dear Leader, despite his magnificence, has not been able to turn public opinion around on anything.  Nothing, nada, zippo, zilch.  Perhaps, just perhaps, they are awakening to the reality that Obama has led an entire life without accomplishing ANYTHING outside of his own personal life.  The only thing Barack Obama, as an individual, has accomplished from birth to today is exactly NOTHING.  That's really what was at the center of his "you didn't build that" remark.  It's the only sentiment he can relate to because he has never *created* anything himself.

Is Obama Still President?  Barack Obama has become a mere figurehead, who gives speeches few listen to any more, issues threats that scare fewer, and makes promises that almost no one believes he will keep.  Yet America continues on, despite the fact that the foreign and domestic policies of Barack Obama are unraveling, in a manner unusual even for star-crossed presidential second terms.

What didn't the president know, and why didn't he know it?  Conservatives must be rubbing their hands with glee as the good ol' MSM, long suspected of being in the tank for the president, are suddenly submerged in a sea of anti-Obama news.  Perhaps this is the kind of rough patch that all presidents pass through.  But I have the sense that we are at a turning point in the way that the president is perceived — by journalists, at least, if not by the general public.

Of Sharks and Windshields.  The Obama administration is beginning to resemble a damaged car windshield:  A small ding from an unexpected flying pebble turns into a spider web of cracks, leaving the windshield difficult to see through and dangerously unstable. [...] But where most windshields remain serviceable for months after the first chip, the façade of President Obama's credibility is cracking up with stunning rapidity, even among some ardent "journalist" supporters and erstwhile human shields.

The media in panic that Obama is the 'nowhere man sitting in his nowhere land'.  The media is concerned that President Obama looks detached, aloof and any other word synonymous to disconnected.  They don't understand how the smartest man to ever take the oath knows so little of what is going on around him.

Starbucks CEO Jumps Off Obamacare Bandwagon.  Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz blasted the implementation of Obamacare on Thursday [10/31/2013], just a month after he voiced his support for the law.

Obama Supporters Upset over Losing Health Insurance.  The chickens are coming home to roost for supporters of Barack Obama in classic fashion:  one San Francisco couple that donated to Organizing for America and worked the phone banks to ensure Barack Obama's reelection has found that they are far worse off because of ObamaCare than they were before.

Poll: Obama approval ratings drop, Americans say he's not trustworthy.  As Obama juggles the bungled rollout of HealthCare.gov and questions over his initial promises about health care reform become magnified, only 39% of voters approve how he is handling his job, while 54% disapprove, the new data from [Quinnipiac University]'s Polling Institute shows.

The wheels have fallen off the Obama bandwagon.  Poll after poll shows that millions of former Obama-bots now concede he is not worthy of their trust and are stampeding off the bus.  The magic ride is over and they just want to go home and sleep it off.  Even The New York Times editorial page stirred.  The big cheese of the Obama Protection Racket assailed his administration's "incompetence."  Stop the presses!  Finally, a great awakening is taking place.

Obama Loses His Cool.  Obama has always been a brand as much as a politician, one that has been perceived as sleek, smart, and up to date.  Then along came HealthCare.gov. [...] It's hard to maintain a sense of truly being on the cutting edge of change when you can't build a website.

A Better Obamacare Won't Save Obama.  A new CNN poll confirms what America's collective gut has been saying for weeks:  Obamacare is sinking its namesake.  The numbers are ugly:  Just one in four respondents say President Obama is a competent manager of the federal government.  For all the hand-wringing about comparing the HealthCare.gov site rollout to Hurricane Katrina, the bottom line is that this president, like his predecessor, has now suffered a signature event that has convinced a majority of Americans that he is unfit for the job.  Piling on, the president also scored his lowest marks on honesty and trustworthiness, with 53 percent of those surveyed responding that they don't feel Obama is being straight with them.

Obama is no longer so invincible.  President Obama is concerned these days with the "young invincibles," the 20-somethings he needs now to buy into his program, but who probably won't because they feel (you guessed it) invincible and think they will stay so for quite a long time.  But it takes one to know one, as the irony is Obama himself is, or once was, an ultra-invincible, unstoppable and doing what people said couldn't be done.  Could he become world famous on the strength of one speech?  Yes, he could.  Could he beat Hillary Clinton, a president's wife and a feminist icon?  Yes, he could.

Obama's 'Sham-Wow' Presidency.  It's time to see Obamacare for what it is:  The world's first trillion dollar Ponzi Scheme perpetrated with lies, misrepresentations, and pure fraud by a late night Ginsu knife salesman named Obama.  But Obamacare is just the tip of the sinking Obama iceberg.

Obama's Plunge: A Window onto the MSM.  What do Tim Tebow, Pope Benedict XVI, and President Obama have in common?  The mainstream-media complex, as represented by one of its bellwether glossies, is decidedly unimpressed with all three of them.  They all appear on GQ's list of the 25 Least Influential People, or, as the article's subtitle has it, the leading "impotent megalomaniacs."  The conservative Protestant quarterback and the conservative Catholic pope do not come as a surprise; but the comment about Obama indicates how far the progressive president's stock has fallen.

Millennials Abandon Obama and Obamacare.  Young Americans are turning against Barack Obama and Obamacare, according to a new survey of millennials, people between the ages of 18 and 29 who are vital to the fortunes of the president and his signature health care law.  The most startling finding of Harvard University's Institute of Politics: A majority of Americans under age 25 — the youngest millennials — would favor throwing Obama out of office.

Harvard Poll: Millennials Abandon Obamacare, Would Vote to 'Recall' Obama.  [Scroll down]  52 percent of younger millennials, aged 18-24, told Harvard pollsters that they would support a recalling of the president from the Oval Office.  47 percent of all young voters said they would support such a measure.  Fortunately for the president, no provision to recall the President of the United States exists in the Constitution.

Young people have bailed on Obama. Why that matters a lot.  One of President Obama's chief political assets has been his ability to excite young people like almost no politician in history.  But the days of America's youth fawning over the president are over.

Dear Barack.  In 2008, 66 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 voted for Barack Obama, and 60 percent of that age group stuck with their man in 2012.  Now a poll from Harvard's Institute of Politics shows only 46 percent saying they'd vote for him again, and a (narrow) plurality of young Americans actually say they would recall him if they could.

Among 'Obama Coalition,' Obama approval plunges.  President Obama won re-election with the rock-solid support of what has become known as the "Obama Coalition" — young people, minorities, women, and low-income voters.  Without a firm foundation — and high turnout — among those groups, Obama would not be in the White House today.  Now, little more than a year after the president's re-election, his job approval rating has fallen among all segments of the American electorate.  But it has fallen the most among those who did the most to elect him.

Obamacare allies giving up on White House leadership.  The political collapse of Barack Obama continues apace, with his own allies in the Democratic Party starting to give up on him.

Obama's horrible year.  Just when Obama thought he had put to rest questions about Internal Revenue Service targeting of conservative groups and about the Justice Department monitoring reporters, new cries of executive overreach emerged with disclosures about National Security Agency surveillance programs.  Those controversies were the warm-up act:  The botched Obamacare rollout leaves the president facing a critical test of his leadership.  Failing to save his health law could validate complaints that, five years in, he isn't CEO material.

Obama's Fall from Grace.  Now the persona is evaporating, under the impact of laughter on the one hand and sheer horror at the results of Obama's incompetence (in health care today, in foreign policy next week) [a]nd that's a good thing.  Because nothing was being done, and nothing was ever going to be done.  There's a certain value in knowing how bad things actually are.

Barbara Walters on Obama: 'We Thought He Was Going To Be The Next Messiah'.  Yes, she really said it.  On CNN's Piers Morgan Live Tuesday [12/17/2013], in a brief discussion about President Obama, Barbara Walters actually said, "We thought that he was going to be — I shouldn't say this at Christmastime, but — the next messiah"[.]

Barbara Walters: We Thought Obama Was 'the Next Messiah'.  Barbara Walters said the difficulties engulfing President Barack Obama are a reflection of the let-down people are feeling from the high expectations they had during his earliest days in office when she and others thought he was going to be "the next messiah."

Swirling the Bowl.  Covered with the stench of debacles including Obamacare, the NSA, Syria, Benghazi, the IRS, and the AP, while demonstrating a level of incompetence so great that it must give pause to all but the most committed members of the cult of unlimited government, few liberals will be willing to dig through the muck to reclaim their once-prized possession.

Early Media Warnings About Deifying Obama.  It's a credit to journalists like [Jake] Tapper and writers like [Kathleen] Geier and [Joe] Klein who warned about the cult-like effect Mr. Obama was having on people then rather than to those who, having bought into it five years ago, are now left scrambling to explain why Obama turned out to be merely mortal.

Obama's State of Disunion.  The 2008 campaign phrase "hope and change" will haunt future histories of the Obama presidency.  Many Americans voted Barack Obama into the White House for that reason alone.  That reason is gone.  The notion that this president would unify the nation by allowing people to summon their better spirits, as he promised, faded fast.  Even Mr. Obama's supporters see now that his operating method wasn't unification, but political and social division.

The Decline and Fall of 'Hope and Change'.  Whatever he once was or wasn't, Obama is now a creature of the Washington, D.C., establishment.  He is captive to its loyalties and prejudices, and committed to safeguarding its interests.  That doesn't mean he hasn't or won't accomplish anything worth while, but there are whole categories of problems that he won't try to fix.  Hope and change are dead.

The other 29% still have Obama bumper stickers on their cars.
Poll: 71% of Obama supporters 'regret' voting for his re-election.  Over seven in 10 Obama voters, and 55 percent of Democrats, regret voting for President Obama's reelection in 2012, according to a new Economist/YouGov.com poll.  Conducted to test the media hype about a comeback by 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, the new poll found voters still uninspired by Romney, but also deeply dissatisfied with Obama who has so far failed to capitalize on his victory over 15 months ago.

Latinos' support for Obamacare drops steeply.  Another day, another unwelcome poll for the White House.  Pew reports that Hispanic support for Obamacare has lurched downwards from 60-plus percent in September 2013 to 47 percent.  That matters a lot, because it possibly means there's less chance that the GOP's campaign against Obamacare will prompt the large Hispanic turnout that President Barack Obama needs in November to keep Sen. Harry Reid in charge of the Senate.

Poll: Latinos souring on Obamacare.  A new poll shows Latinos — a fast-growing and key demographic in American elections — aren't as fond of Obamacare as they once were.  The Pew Research Center poll showed Hispanics are split on whether they approve of President Obama's health-care law, with 47 percent approving and 47 percent disapproving.  The numbers are notable because Latinos have generally been among the health-care law's chief supporters.

Hmm: Hillary Camp Claims Zero Emails Exist Between Top Spokesman and Reporters.  More censorship, less responsiveness, longer FOIA wait times — and it's gotten worse.  This president is a fraud.  But that's old news.  Obama is unpopular, he's lost independents, and he's on the fast track to lame duck status.

The Silence of the Liberals.  Am I the only one or have you noticed your liberal friends and family have been strangely silent lately? [...] They are bewildered and embarrassed.  Some are even ashamed of themselves, not that they will readily admit it.  The man who was their hero has now been unmasked in every direction as the worst president since the Civil War and possibly earlier.  Not only is he a cheesy liar, everything he has done, domestic and foreign, has failed, sometimes to extraordinary degrees.

Digging Out From Under the Rubble of Obama's Catastrophic "Success".  Obama asked for a primetime network shot to announce his Big Victory, and the red diaper babies of the networks actually refused him.  I'm not sure if this is just about the bottom line, or if the networks (and especially their news divisions) are feeling a bit used [...] And maybe they've noticed that Obama's people always claim to only know the numbers they're interested in promoting, while claiming to have no idea about the ones that might not be so attractive.

Obama Generation Losing Interest in Obama.  "For all the talk about the movement that elected Mr. Obama, the more notable movement of Obama supporters has been away from politics.  It appears that few of the young people who voted for him, and even fewer Obama campaign and administration operatives, have decided to run for office.  Far more have joined the high-paid consultant ranks," reports the New York Times.

Obama faces cold audience in Pennsylvania [Video].  President Barack Obama ventured Wednesday to a mostly blue-collar region of the United States and tried to engage an audience that was cold to him.  The 15 community college students who were picked to stand immediately behind the president, and in view of the TV cameras, mostly stood stone-faced through his speech.  At the end, when the president walked back from the podium to smile and wave at the roughly 60 people in the bleachers 20 feet behind him, he faced a unfriendly wall of faces.

Ouch: College Students Give Obama a Cold Reception in Pennslvania.  The president's speeches may need to be accompanied by a laugh track from now on, considering the crickets he received at his appearance in Community College of Allegheny County, in Oakdale, Pa., on Wednesday [4/16/2014].  Although he tried to tout his new spending program, both Obama's talking points and attempts at humor didn't go over so well: [...]

Obama is losing the media culture war.  President Obama's media supporters are abandoning him.  Even the liberal culture seems to be abandoning him.  And as he slips into the low 40s in two recent polls, it's hard to see how he recasts his once-glittering image.  This is the kind of sea change that goes beyond polling numbers.  The very mass culture that celebrated Barack Obama, that turned him into an international icon, is now migrating toward the darker side of his legacy, perhaps fueled by a sense of frustration and disappointment.

Dem poll: Half of young Obama voters don't plan to vote blue in November.  less than a third of Obama's 2012 Millennial voters say they'll "definitely" vote for Democrats this fall.  Almost as many have abandoned the party label completely, either by shifting to independent status or by supporting Republicans.  When this Democratic pollster tabulates the data, he finds that only half of all the young Obama voters surveyed will definitely, probably, or maybe vote for Democrats in the midterms.

Leading Democrats Now Leaking Reports That They Believe Obama is "Incompetent" and "Detached".  What:  did the 175 rounds of golf give it away?  Or the constant fundraising?  Or the detailed focus on NCAA brackets and other sporting events versus, say, chemical weapons in Syria, nukes in Iran, and the annexation of Crimea?

Democrats Privately Calling Obama 'Detached,' 'Flat Footed,' 'Incompetent'.  "Forget for a moment that Republican outrage," said [CNN's John] King on his CNN show this morning [5/25/2014].  "More and more Democrats in key 2014 races are calling for the president to get a spine, they say, and fire his Veterans Affairs secretary.  And what more and more Democrats are saying privately is scathing, calling the president and his team detached, flat footed, even incompetent.

Unruly Commoners Refuse to Stand for Obama.  President Obama went for a walk last week, and even mingled with some commoners beyond the White House walls.  The "surprise" occasion was (shockingly) captured on camera and widely disseminated; the White House posted the "raw video" [on line].  Most of the commoners were thrilled to encounter the president walking amongst them. [...] But not everyone was so impressed.  At the 2:41 mark, you can see some disgruntled workers who are unable to get in their cars and drive home due to Obama's security entourage.  And at 0:40 we see a couple that couldn't even be bothered to stand to greet the president.

Obama's Leaked Exercise Tape Confirms His Status as Most Embarrassing Dad.  President Barack Obama, whose dadness has inspired multiple side-eyes from teen-in-chief Sasha Obama, was spotted doing lunges and squats in a Polish gym, cementing his status as lamest dad leader of the free world.  The Daily Mail got footage of the wonderfully cringeworthy workout, shot by whoever happened to be working out in the hotel gym that day, we guess.

Relentless Incompetence: Americans Are Giving Up on Obama.  Over the last several months, the American public has had a hard and clear look at the executive talent inside the White House, and has begun to despair for real leadership and competence.  When leadership fails, people stop following.  It appears in the sixth year of the Barack Obama presidency, that moment has arrived.

Icarus Descending, Dishonorably.  [Scroll down]  But even with 20 percent inflation, international humiliation, the Iranian hostage crisis, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and gas lines, in retrospect Jimmy Carter seems like Pericles of Athens compared with Barack Hussein Obama, the least-qualified man ever to actively seek and win the presidency.  When the full extent of the harm the Obama administration has inflicted on the United States is finally realized, not only will Obama come in for blame, but so also will the forces that put him in office, especially the Democrat-Media Complex, led by David Axelrod.

When Democrats Quit on Obama.  In the 18 months since I began writing columns focused on the presidency, virtually every post critical of Obama has originated from conversations with Democrats.  Members of Congress, consultants, pollsters, lobbyists, and executives at think tanks, these Democrats are my Obama-whispers.  They respect and admire Obama but believe that his presidency has been damaged by his shortcomings as a leader; his inattention to details of governing; his disengagement from the political process and from the public; his unwillingness to learn on the job; and his failure to surround himself with top-shelf advisers who are willing to challenge their boss as well as their own preconceived notions.

The Unbearable Smallness of Obama's Vision.  Obama is a president without vision, or with a vision so puny it's hardly worth the name.  All those big windy words — that hopey-changey stuff? Forget about it.  Vision-wise?  Look around you.  The guy's got nothing.

A Sudden Realization.  [Scroll down]  On closer inspection the real reason for the low-level Democrat fever is the unease from the growing suspicion that Obama doesn't listen to them — listen to people who fancied themselves influential in the Democratic party. One of the foundations of insider self-esteem is to imagine you are a player.  If all of a sudden you find the steering wheel through which you imagined yourself exercising influence proved actually like one of those child's toys which only allow the user to pretend he's driving — then you realize that you're not an insider after all.

Bergdahl Press Conference Obama's "Jump the Shark" Moment.  In 2011, and 2012, "everyone refused to make this trade," [Pat] Caddell noted.  "It was a White House operation.  They wanted the VA off the front page — they got something much worse."

Megyn Kelly: The Obama Presidency Is 'Imploding'.  Kelly opened [her show on 6/17/2014] with this simply question:  "Is Barack Obama's presidency imploding?"  She cited the bewildering fact that the U.S. may ally with Iran to deal with the situation in Iraq, and ripped Obama in particulas as "a president who has lost the trust of the American people by repeatedly misleading them."  She went down a list of scandal after scandal that the president has briefly acknowledged while "smiling, golfing," and attending fundraisers.

Obama's flailing and foolish attacks on the media.  Here's what's really happening here:  In blaming the media, Obama has dusted off the same tired tactic that many a struggling president has resorted to when things aren't going well.  When presidents start complaining about their press coverage, saying reporters are to blame for low poll numbers or negative articles, it's the clearest sign of a presidency in trouble.

That bad, huh? Newspaper so disappointed in Obama it apologizes for 2008 endorsement.  President Obama has so far been a major disappointment to even his most ardent supporters, his approval numbers steadily falling to fresh lows.  And the president is apparently such a disappointment, that the Billings Gazette in Montana felt compelled last week to apologize to its readers for endorsing him in 2008 over Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

The Obama Presidency Unravels.  The Obama presidency has unraveled.  The man who liberal political commentators once said was the rhetorical match of Lincoln is now considered by one-third of Americans to be the worst president since World War II, according to a new Quinnipiac University National Poll.  (The span covers 69 years of American history and 12 presidencies.)  The same poll found that 45 percent of Americans say the nation would be better off if Mitt Romney had won the 2012 presidential election, while only 38 percent say the country would be worse off.  Another poll — this one from the Gallup organization — finds that in his sixth year of office, the level of confidence in Mr. Obama's presidency is 29 percent.  That's lower than at a comparable point for any of his predecessors.

Signs of donor fatigue at Obama's Bay Area fundraisers.  There was no listed price for tickets for Obama's morning appearance [7/24/2014] at a roundtable in San Francisco for the House Majority PAC -- the type of intimate gathering for which admission is usually $32,400 per person, the legal maximum.  Some donors said tickets had been offered for a deep discount.

Headless Elephants.  Last week, amid alarm bells going off in Gaza, Ukraine, and on the Texas border, and while he golfed and attended campaign fundraisers, President Barack Obama saw his approval rating as measured by Gallup drop to 39 percent.  Some 54 percent of the venerable polling firm's respondents registered active disapproval of the president's job performance, an indication that America is coming to a consensus around the idea that Obama is a failure in office.

When Obama voters apologize.  Many now suspect that Barack Hussein Obama is an empty suit.  In Texas, people refer to someone who has no true experience or accomplishments as a person with "all hat and no cattle."  But now our greater fears about Mr. Obama are confirmed.

Obama is Betraying the Republic's Trust.  Even the most ardent of independents are starting to realize they've been lied to, and one thing Americans hate is being lied to — especially by someone they supported.  The naïve but enthusiastic youth voters who supported the idea of Obama have come crashing back to earth, many no longer able to find either a job or affordable health insurance, or start up a family of their own.  Young blacks have been hit harder than any other group as far as being unable to find work of any kind.  These voters know they have been betrayed.  Even members of his own party are now starting to question his actions and his motives.

The Callow President.  The notion that Obama might be a grand historical figure was always an illusion, although at the beginning his rousing words lent it some superficial support.  He gave a truly inspired convention speech in 2004 and a few defining campaign speeches in 2008.  But that was long ago.  Once the magic wore off, it became clear he's not really an orator.  Few of his big speeches as president have been memorable or remarkable, and he's almost always failed to move public opinion.  His greatest rhetorical skill turns out to be mockery.  The man who once promised to transcend political divisions is an expert at the stinging partisan jab.  What Churchill was to thundering statements of resolve, he is to snotty put-downs.

Obama's teetering presidency.  Barack Obama's presidency isn't just shrinking, it's losing support among its most critical point — its base.  Less than two years ago, Barack Obama became the first Democratic president since FDR to win re-election with a popular-vote majority.  Since then, his support has dropped dramatically — not just overall, but among important constituent groups.

If What This Writer Says Is True, Harry Reid May Be About To Destroy Obama.  A recent Las Vegas Review-Journal editorial revealed one man's opinion that, with more than two years left in his second term, Barack Obama's presidency is effectively over.  The major factor he cited in arriving at this conclusion is a noticeable cooling in Obama's relationship with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a man who has been a reliable defender over the past six years.

Under Obama, racial hope but no change.  Six years ago, Barack Obama's election was going to usher in a new era of racial understanding.  That hasn't happened.  Few, if any, anticipated that the man whose election itself was historic would be in a constant lose-lose situation as president when it came to race.

California democrats' support for Obama skids to lowest level yet.  In what could be ominous news for Democratic candidates in the November election, President Obama's popularity in California has skidded to the lowest level of his presidency, according to a new Field Poll.  The survey found that 45 percent of registered voters approved of the job Obama is doing, only a couple of ticks above the 43 percent who disapprove.

Political scientists' verdict on the Obama presidency: silence.  Paul Rahe, currently at Hillsdale College, is an eminent scholar whose many books combine awesome erudition and bedrock common sense.  He is also a member of the American Political Science Association and attended that organization's annual convention in Washington over Labor Day weekend.  He reports on ricochet.com on what he found there — or, rather, didn't find.  There were more than 1,000 panels on a vast variety of subjects — but nothing on the presidency of Barack Obama or the upcoming 2014 elections.  Some subjects, it appears, are better left unspoken of.

Michael Moore: Obama's 'a Huge Disappointment'.  Left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore savaged President Obama in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, calling him "a huge disappointment" and claiming he'll be remembered only as the nation's first black president and nothing else.

The Editor says...
Welcome aboard the clue bus, Mr. Moore, for indeed Mr. Obama is the nation's first black president and nothing else.

The Democrats' (and Media's) Obama Problem.  The Democratic Party and the mainstream media joined to run interference for Barack Obama when he became a national figure.  Obama was painted as a charismatic, competent, new kind of politician.  The passage of time destroyed this image.  Now, the public increasingly sees Obama as incompetent, untrustworthy and unmotivated.  Supporters are now in an awkward position.  Do they continue to support what is increasingly seen as an inept president or do they turn against him?

Honesty, Common Sense, and A Sound Mind.  After over six years of the Obama presidency, the scales are finally falling off the eyes of some liberals.  I am shocked to hear liberals saying the same things about President Obama as conservatives (including me) have been saying since 2007 when he first announced his candidacy.  What took so long?  It is as though liberals have been intoxicated for years and have just sobered up.  I am encountering liberals describing President Obama as a Muslim sympathizer, incompetent, weak, indecisive, and inexperienced.  All of this was obvious during his campaign for anyone that did an honest examination of the candidate.

Liberal base sours on Obama.  President Obama's poll numbers are plummeting in deep-blue states, such as New York and California, with core liberal supporters who have stuck with him through thick and thin beginning to sour on his leadership.

The Democrats' Biggest Worry: Obama's Fall From Grace With His Base.  The Democrats' biggest worry heading toward November is Obama's fall from grace with his base.  This could make things even worse for them than currently expected.  Democrats' only hope to offset Republicans' anticipated midterm surge is their base's high turnout.  However, Obama's deep drop with his strongest supporters seriously calls this hope into question.  Democrats know they will lose seats in November.  The only question is:  How many?

Hispanic community souring on Obama.  Hispanic voters were a key part of the coalition that elected President Obama, but lately the demographic has soured on him.  Obama's weekly approval among Hispanics dipped to 45 percent during the period ended Sept. 28, according to Gallup, and it has remained below 50 percent for the past five weeks.

Who Are You Calling the Party of the Rich?  One in four working-age Americans is out of a job.  Wages have stagnated.  Debt is off the charts.  Obamacare has increased the cost of health insurance.  Immigration reform is no longer popular.  Inequality, supposedly the holy grail of Democrats, has increased on Obama's watch.

Most Americans Label Obama Presidency A Failure.  The poll, which ended Friday [10/3/2014], found that 53% characterize Obama's presidency as a failure vs. 41% who rate it a success.  Just 6% say that they aren't sure.  Obama's standing among independents is even worse, with 58% calling his presidency is a failure.  Half of those who live in states that voted for Obama say that his presidency is failing.

Obama's Coddling by the Media Coming to an End.  A high-profile consultant who does crisis management for big corporations and celebrities such as the late Michael Jackson said in a speech hosted by Americans for Tax Reform Wednesday [10/8/2014] that President Obama's easy ride from the media will soon be over.

Hispanics seem to be souring on Obama Democrats.  It's looking like a tough offyear election for Democrats, with their Senate majority at serious risk and their chances of gaining House seats down toward zero.  Every party has a bad offyear sometimes; Republicans did in 2006.  Sooner or later they recover.  But in the crosstabs of polls and in party strategists' moves I see evidence that one group Democrats have been counting on is moving away from them:  Hispanics.

The Unequal-Pay Delusion.  Voters are souring on the Democratic party.  Apparently all it takes is six years of economic torpor; the disastrous debut of the biggest new federal program in two generations; record levels of federal debt; revelations of scandals and malfeasance at the Veterans Administration, the IRS, the Secret Service, and the Justice Department; Russian revanchism on the march; a rampaging army of (literal) cutthroats gobbling up territory in the Middle East; and the feeble and patronizing government response to a modern plague.

Fleeing the Leaky Ship Obama.  In ever-increasing numbers, prominent Democrats, from eminent statesmen to inside experts, are abandoning the Good Ship Obama, some more quietly than others.

Frank Luntz on CBS: 'Collapse in Confidence' of Government, Media.  Appearing on Friday's [10/17/2014] CBS This Morning, Republican pollster Frank Luntz reacted to the latest CBS News poll showing Americans having a "crisis of confidence" in government institutions:  "The problem is that the institutions that have the greatest impact on us, the CDC, the FDA, the EPA, those that are responsible for our health and safety, are the ones that have had the biggest collapse.  In fact, in some cases it's 20-30-point drop in just the last 15-18 months."

Obama and the End of Greatness.  [There is a] suspension of disbelief at the start of most Presidencies — that moment when a good number of Americans are able to convince themselves that we might be in the presence of a great man, and that his greatness will be manifest.  That this is the man who has the answers.  When it becomes clear that he doesn't, we never quite forgive him for it.  This is where we stand right now with President Obama.

Rebuttal(?):
"Greatness," Humility, and the Presidency.  [Scroll down]  The piece is headlined "Obama and the End of Greatness."  The story is a close relative of the "America the ungovernable" narrative, in which failed Democratic presidents inspire liberal commentators to decide that if someone like Obama can't succeed, the job is too difficult for one man.  That narrative is false, of course; Obama is simply not very good at his job and has personality traits that compel him to lash out and blame others instead of changing course.

Crowd Begins to File Out While Obama Speaks in Wisconsin.  As President Obama spoke this evening [10/28/2014] in Wisconsin, the crowd began to file out.  [Video clip]

Obama jokes about vote fraud as people walk out on him.  Speaking at a rally for Mary Burke, Democrat candidate for governor in Wisconsin, President Obama once again suffered the indignity of people walking out of the auditorium, as he began to speak.  Below is embedded video (via the Weekly Standard) of people filing out as Obama's voice can be heard in the background.  And these are Democrat enthusiasts that turn out for campaign rallies.

Obama's base crumbles: Youths, Latinos slip away.  Heading into the last hectic weekend of the 2014 midterm election campaign, a couple of revealing findings stick out that are ominous for Democrats:  Young 'Hope & Change' voters, who formed the core of Barack Obama's 2008 victory, have drifted away from their guy.  In other words, they are growing up.  Second, Latinos, another leg on the aging Obama support stool, are flaking off too.

Why Millenials Rejected Obama.  [Scroll down]  Obama is a 20-watt bulb who uncorked the tired swill of collectivist-utopia for a generation that lacked the perspective and maturity to contextualize it... but that is not why he's become unpopular with Millenials.  Instead Millenials have turned away from Obama because his kitsch has grown tired; he no longer distracts us and that's intolerable.  We have spent the pittance of visceral sentimentality and embracing the Obama badge no longer projects cheap altruism onto our "personal brand".  We are left with an empty totem that is neither "novel" nor "nostalgic" (comes from the Greek word for Homesickness).  The Obama brand was projected and received as a piece of art whose legacy can be summed up in 3 meaningless words "He was black".

America [is] a house divided over race.  The election of Barack Obama six years ago was hailed as a breakthrough both for minorities, particularly African Americans, and for his being the first "city guy" elected president in recent history.  Both blacks and urbanistas got one of their "own" in power, and there were hopes that race relations and urban fortunes would improve at a rapid pace.  Instead, the recent controversies over police killings of African American men have revealed a shocking deterioration of race relations not seen in a generation.

Obama has become a figure of American disappointment.  [Scroll down]  But six years on, in many important ways, Barack Obama has become a figure of American disappointment, with last week's inexplicable failure to properly honor the trauma of France only a latest instance of mystifying solecism.  Obama's political and personal enemies never saw him as a force for good, yet by now even many of his once-passionate admirers admit to a profound disenchantment.  The shattering of an illusion tied to a figure of such intelligence, deeply rooted liberal purpose, and evident public virtue necessarily involves a further — and perhaps dangerous — disillusionment with democratic will itself.

Cornel West Goes Off On Obama: 'We Live In An Age Of The Sellouts'.  One of America's most famous African-American professors laid into America's first black president Monday night as a sellout.  Appearing on CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman," Cornel West launched into a monologue about how America's leaders, including President Barack Obama, care more about power and money than helping the suffering.  "Right now we live in an age of the sellouts," the always-colorful Union Theological Seminary professor said, before attacking Obama from the left.

Obama and His Jayvee Team of Tweeting Twits.  Many of Obama's adoring fans have woken up to the catastrophe they helped create by voting for him — twice.  They ignored the fact that a man who thinks that the U.S. is "one of the largest Muslim countries in the world" with 57 states and that Hawaii is in Asia, and who had a postage stamp-sized resume, would not know a lot about the world, economics, history, foreign policy, and healthcare.

Is Anyone In Charge At The White House?  Hillary Clinton is bogged down in another trademark Clinton scandal.  Clinton never used a standard government email account while secretary.  And rather than submit her actual emails to the State Department back in December, Clinton submitted 55,000 printed pages of emails — making it harder for those emails to be searched.  Apparently, Clinton also wished to decide which of her private-server communications to release to the government, but only when congressional investigators and watchdog groups demanded them after her tenure ended.  Clinton's implausible press conference last week only made things worse.

Christians Strongly Oppose Obama Across The Board.  A significant religious divide has opened up in the country.  IBD/TIPP polls taken in March and April show that Christians — including both Protestants and Catholics — strongly oppose President Obama on almost every issue, from his economic policies, to his attempts at a deal with Iran, to his immigration policies.  Those Americans without religious affiliation remain enthusiastic supporters.  Interestingly, Catholics and Protestants — groups sometimes viewed as diverging politically — are in close agreement on most issues.  One exception is immigration, where 61% of Catholics favor securing the border first over comprehensive reform vs. 46% of Protestants.

Obama's visit to South Dakota marks president's 50th state.  As President Barack Obama stood in front of graduates of a South Dakota community college on Friday, he spoke passionately, but the faces of the crowd in front of him told a different story.  Residents of the Republican-majority state sat in the Lake Area Technical Institute gymnasium in Watertown, South Dakota, with their arms crossed, appearing bored and looking at their phones.

Obama, the Most Progressive President Since LBJ, Gets Whacked by His Own Left Wing.  The disagreement between progressive Democrats and the White House flamed into open political war this week, as Barack Obama's usual allies resorted to a filibuster to block one of the President's key goals on free trade.

Democrats Get a Taste of Obama's Arrogance.  With the sand running out on the Obama presidency, it's finally dawning on the president's friends and fans that he can be a real jerk.

Top Dem raising 'alarm bells' over of Obama Ramadi claims.  It's becoming clear that President Obama really is a Marxist — but of the Groucho, not Karl school.  "Are you going to believe me, or what you see with your own eyes?" is the next logical answer for administration apologists to employ in claiming the fall of Ramadi isn't an outright catastrophe.  At least one top Democrat, senior House member Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California has had enough.

Let down by Obama, some black voters ask: Is it even worth backing Clinton?  On Jacksonville's north side and in other struggling urban neighborhoods across the country, where Barack Obama mobilized large numbers of new African American voters who were inspired partly by the emotional draw of his biography, high hopes have turned to frustration:  Even a black president was unable to heal places still gripped by violence, drugs and joblessness.

Jimmy Carter hits Obama on foreign policy, calls accomplishments 'minimal'.  President Obama was criticized last week by the president he is often compared to, Jimmy Carter.  Carter told an Aspen Institute audience that Obama's accomplishments on foreign policy "have been minimal" and that the United States' influence is "lower than it was six or seven years ago."

Obama greeted by protesters in Oregon — 'Gun free zones are for sitting ducks,' sign reads.  As he reportedly weighs more executive actions on gun control, President Obama on Friday [10/9/2015] was greeted by protesters in Roseburg, Oregon, who oppose the White House's call for more firearms restrictions.  Mr. Obama visited Roseburg to meet with the families of the victims of last week's massacre at Umpqua Community College, a tragedy that led the president to renew his call for gun-safety measures.

President Obama visits Oregon town where community college shooting occurred; greeted by 300 unhappy pro-gun protesters.  Hundreds of irate Oregonians, toting guns and nasty signs, gave President Obama a derisive Friday welcome before he sat with relatives of last week's college shooting victims.  "Obama Go Home" and "Go Back To Kenya" read two of the crude homemade posters held aloft by demonstrators who rolled out the rhetoric, not the red carpet for the commander-in-chief.  "He's exploiting a local tragedy to make a political point," griped Bruce Rester, 66, who came from Glendale, Ore., carrying a .45-caliber automatic handgun.  "He doesn't care about the people who live here," said Rester.  "I don't think he cares about the people who are victims of this shooter."

Demoralized Obama natsec team grumbles: He's too weak and passive towards Putin.  Maybe so, but what about his bold, assertive leadership in standing up to America's real enemy, climate change?  Even this guy's own deputies won't defend him anymore.

The Daily Caller Presents: The 23 Least Intriguing People Of 2015.  [#16] Barack Obama.  Where's the hope?  Where's the change?  Where's the messiah and "Lightworker," "that rare kind of attuned being who has the ability to lead us not merely to new foreign policies or health care plans or whatnot, but who can actually help usher in a new way of being on the planet?"  Where is the "triumph of word over flesh, over color, over despair?"  This guy just turned out to be a dull nerd with a wretched foreign policy.

George Soros Regrets Backing Obama.  One of the State Department's newly-released Hillary Clinton emails comes from Neera Tanden, President of the far-left Center for American Progress.  In May 2012, near the end of President Obama's first term, Tanden told Hillary about a conversation with George Soros: [...]

Obama Scolds Illinois on 'Building a Better Politics' While Barring Public from the Speech.  Noting that the public was invited to Obama's 2007 announcement speech but that the speech this week was limited to the power brokers, the Kankakee Daily Journal accused the president of "shutting out" his Illinois supporters by only allowing legislators to attend his Wednesday [2/10/2016] speech.  "It seems like Obama is turning his back on the people who elevated him to widespread popularity and put him in the White House for eight years.  It's in one word, disappointing.  Of course, there are those who will tell you that lone word describes his entire presidency," the paper said in an editorial.

If Donald Trump becomes President, his supporters will soon experience epic disillusionment.  Remember when Barack Obama promised the world in 2008, only to leave some enthusiasts bereft after he failed to close Guantanamo, much less slow the rise of the oceans?  If we elect a President Donald Trump, you ain't seen nothing yet when it comes to disillusionment.  Imagine the fury among his supporters when their outsized hero is exposed as a huckster who cashes the check as soon as the car is off the lot.

John Bolton:  Countries That Once 'Hailed' Obama as a 'New Messiah' Now Realize His Policies 'Endangered' Them.  Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, who has formed a Super PAC to support candidates committed to American economic and national security, joined SiriusXM host and Breitbart News Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon on Breitbart News Daily.  Bannon asked if President Obama's current world travels amounted to "the road trip from Hell," given his unpopularity everywhere from Europe to the Middle East — a mirror image of the rock-star reception he received in those quarters as a presidential candidate, eight long years ago.

The no-longer-useful idiot:
They don't greet President Obama at the airports anymore.  A month ago, we were surprised that Cuba's Raúl Castro did not greet President Obama at the airport.  After all, they told us it was historic.  It had not happened since President Coolidge visited Cuba in the late 1920s. [...] Well, it happened again.  Another world leader was too busy to greet the president of the U.S.  He was welcomed by Prince Faisal bin Bandar Al Saud, the governor of Riyadh.  Yes, our president is now greeted by governors.  It does not get any more insulting than that.  Maybe having Russian jets fly within 50 feet of U.S. warships is a very close second!  King Salman was not there to greet President Obama.  However, he found time to greet other world leaders just last week: [...]

White House Explains Why Saudi King Didn't Really Snub Obama.  The White House denied reports that the fact that Saudi King Salman failed to greet President Barack Obama at the airport, after greeting Gulf State representatives just before Obama landed, meant US-Saudi relations are in a crisis.  Administration officials are insisting the president and the king "really cleared the air" in their Wednesday meeting afterwards.  When he arrived, the president was greeted at the airport by the governor of Riyadh, and the event was ignored by Saudi TV.  That same day, King Salman bin Abdulaziz and senior officials were seen on state TV greeting the leaders of neighboring Gulf states who were arriving for Thursday's [4/21/2016] summit of the Saudi-dominated Gulf Cooperation council, which Obama will address.

I Want My Money Back.  After more than seven years of "hope and change" not just the US but the world seems to have arrived at a strange and unexpected destination.

There was never any hope.  There may have been changes, but not improvements.
8 years after hope and change, voters are angry, anxious.  A stunning 79 percent of Americans now believe the country is heading in the wrong direction, a 15-point spike in the past year, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll.

And None So Deaf as They Who Will Not Hear.  The possibility that president Obama may not be as great as they thought has gradually dawned on the New York Times. [...] Even the administration's supporters were left totally surprised by the trail of disasters so intense it propelled Donald Trump to a presidential nomination.  Jesse Bernstein in Tablet thinks that the root cause of the blindness was insufferable smugness of the intellectual elite.

Barack Obama's legacy of failure.  Most Americans long ago got over their crush on Obama, as they repeatedly demonstrated at the polls.  In 2010, two years after electing him president, voters trounced Obama's party, handing Democrats the biggest midterm losses in 72 years.  Obama was reelected in 2012, but by nearly 4 million fewer votes than in his first election, making him the only president ever to win a second term with shrunken margins in both the popular and electoral vote.  Two years later, with Obama imploring voters, "[My] policies are on the ballot — every single one of them," Democrats were clobbered again.

47.9%: Obama Had Lower Average Approval Rating Than Nixon or Bush.  President Barack Obama had an average approval rating of 47.9 percent during his time in office, according to the Gallup poll.  That puts him behind Richard Nixon, who resigned, and George W. Bush, who saw his approval rating drop as low as 25 percent near the end of his term.  It puts him ahead of only Gerald Ford (47.2 percent), Jimmy Carter (45.5 percent) and Harry Truman (45.4 percent).

Obama, Please Go Away!  We know that black turnout in the last election was down from 2012, when black turnout was actually higher than white turnout.  The left screams "GOP vote suppression!," except that the lower turnout occurred in many instances in cities and states that Democrats control.  Maybe the fact that Obama was no longer on the ballot — and Hillary was — might explain why some black voters stayed home (or voted for Trump — he got the highest GOP share of the black vote in 30 years).  Or maybe blacks are tired of Democrats in general, and Obama in particular.  Obama is currently making plans for his presidential library and community action center to be located on the south side of Chicago.  The mostly black neighborhood where it is planned to be built isn't happy about it, and not buying Obama's happy talk about how it will bring prosperity to the neighborhood.

Far Left Prepares To Throw Barack Obama Into The Dustbin Of History.  The mood of left-wing Democrats might be neatly summarized by the media coverage of last weekend's Netroots Nation conference.  The progressive left seems poised to consign former President Barack Obama to the dustbin of history.  Moreover, supposedly woke agitators do not seem to care how their exercise might affect black voters who comprise a crucial part of their 2020 electoral strategy.  According to Vox, "Progressive activists know their enemy in the 2020 Democratic primary:  Joe Biden."  As Vox notes, "Some activists at Netroots conceded they would support Biden in a general election if they had no other choice."

Liberal Writer Dunks On Obama After His Attacks on Bernie Sanders.  Former President Barack Obama indicated earlier this week he would speak up to stop Bernie Sanders from becoming the party's nominee should the Vermont Socialist make significant gains in the Democrat primary.  This did not sit well with the grassroot Bernie supporters in the party.  Leftist activist and writer Walker Bragman posted a series of tweets reminding Democrats of Barack Obama's massive failures as a president.

After the Obama disappointment, black voters want more than empty symbolism.  The hope Obama promised was omnipresent and lasted for days.  Then 2009 happened.  We graduated into the worst job market in a generation, threatening our ability to pay back our college and post-graduate debts.  Obama filled his cabinet with financial industry operatives.  We saw a bailout for banks and big business that dwarfed the stimulus of American households.  Despite middle-class trappings, economic insecurity hit me and much of our generation hard.  Back home, my mother and I struggled to pay for a home that mortgage lenders targeted with a subprime mortgage.  We saw Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, Michael Brown and Rekia Boyd shot and killed.  We saw the beer summit and respectability politics.  Despite doing many things "right", it wasn't enough.  Homes in our mostly black neighborhood outside of Atlanta still have not recovered.  Justice for most of the families of police and vigilante violence has still been unserved.  Banks are still being bailed out.  In hushed circles — dinner parties and barber shops, group chats and family gatherings — the relatively universal enthusiasm for Obama tapered as his presidency came to a close.  Hope for many of us has been replaced with resignation.

Nancy's Fake Fire Alarm.  [Scroll down]  When Obama was elected, I commented to a friend that the best which could be expected from his administration would be four years of nonsense and a lot of bad laws to repeal.  That proved optimistic.  Obama lasted eight years, and we've barely made a start at cleaning up the legislative mess he left.  But he was president, duly elected, for better or worse.  We were stuck with him until the next election.  The country had the opportunity in 2012 to trade in Obama for Romney, but Mitt didn't pass the smell test (and his odor hasn't improved since, to be honest).  Republicans concluded that Romney was nothing more than Obama in whiteface and stayed home on election day.  Perhaps they hoped that another four years of the affirmative action president would help race relations... Didn't work out that way.

Cognitive Dissonance in Post-Obama America.  Nearly 12 years have elapsed since the night in October 2008 when Barack Obama told a crowd of his supporters in a speech at the University of Missouri that they were "five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America."  You can turn on your TV and see the result:  Race riots have devastated cities across the country, a disillusioned generation of youth expressing themselves in a criminal spree of violent rage inspired by the failure of Obama's promise.  Of course, liberals blame these "mostly peaceful protests" on President Trump, but let them ponder this question:  How could Trump ever have been elected if Obama had been successful in delivering the transformation he promised?

Barack Obama:  How the mighty are fallen.  Once upon a time, Barack Obama had the world at his feet.  Tens of thousands of adoring people would come to see him, and often women would react to him as teens once reacted to Frank Sinatra, by fainting away in his presence.  Now, though, not so much.  Obama is stumping for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and the magic is gone.  Nowadays, Obama is drawing crowds that only number in the tens and maybe the hundreds. [...] If I were a betting woman, I would bet that Obama's efforts on Biden's behalf will not change the outcome of the upcoming election.

Trick or Cheat!.  Yes, Barry himself took to the streets of Pennsylvania, bullhorn in hand, to rouse the passions of nearly a dozen potential voters who are currently living in their parents' basements.  Unable to come up with much in the way of specific accomplishments (or future plans) by Biden, the former president instead went on the attack against Trump, who "emboldens other people to be cruel and divisive and racist."  This ugly pack of lies doesn't seem to square with Michelle Obama's claim that in matters of political rhetoric, "when they go low, we go high."  Although it's entirely possible that Barry did go to the event high.  By his own admission, he's a man who loves his pot, booze, and maybe a little blow when he can afford it.

Barack Obama Walks Up to a Group of Biden Supporters in Philly and They Don't Look Enthusiastic.  Barack Obama hit the campaign trail on Wednesday [10/21/2020] on behalf of Hiden Biden.  Obama is in Philadelphia today for two separate events as Joe Biden hides in his basement with less than two weeks until Election Day.  Barack Obama held a drive-in rally after he participated in a roundtable discussion with black leaders (he was muted on the livestream).  The drive-in rally was a joke.  Walmart has more cars on a Wednesday afternoon.

Obama Couldn't Draw a Crowd in Philadelphia.  That's Obama in Philadelphia yesterday [10/21/2020].  [Photo]  Now, I saw pictures of Obama in Philadelphia yesterday, and the only pictures I saw were tight shots of him near a podium in Philadelphia.  He's out there trying to get out the black vote for Joe Biden.  Look.  There's nobody there, folks.  He doesn't even draw a crowd.  This is the weirdest damn thing.  Now, I have never been under the illusion that Obama is a great endorser.  He doesn't show positive impact as an endorser of candidates.  Ask Hillary about it.  But they still use him even though he's proven not to be that good at it.  And in this case there's nobody there, folks.  That is a zilch, zero, nada.

This is an original compilation, Copyright © 2020 by Andrew K. Dart

Good news:
Obama to stump for Biden less than two weeks before election.  Former President Barack Obama will head to Philadelphia on Wednesday to campaign on behalf of the Biden-Harris ticket, his first appearance on the trail thus far.  Current polls show Democratic opponent Joe Biden leading Trump by more than five percentage points, according to a Real Clear Politics average.  Philadelphia bolstered Obama's White House victories in both 2008 and 2012, when Biden was his running mate.

Obama kiss of death:  Not every candidate [is] thrilled to have that supposedly prized Obama endorsement.  On Monday [8/3/2020], President Obama trotted out his highly awaited endorsement list of more than 100 Democrat down-ballot candidates, and based on the media's reaction, it's the holy grail for those Democrats. [...] Much of the attention has been on Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, an openly socialist protege of Bernie Sanders who didn't get one, but that wasn't surprising, given the trouble she's given to the Democrat establishment. [...] No, amid all this gushing about getting the Obama imprimatur, the news is that at least one candidate views Obama's unsolicited endorsement as the kiss of death.

This is the biggest favor he could offer:
Barack Obama omits AOC's name while endorsing New York Democrats.  Former President Barack Obama on Monday endorsed six New Yorkers running for House seats, but he did not endorse freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.  Obama's "first wave" of 2020 endorsements follow the Democratic primaries, meaning they won't influence who makes the November ballot.  But the popular former president still carries sway with donors and voters.  Obama released the list of candidates he supports on Twitter.  It's possible he will add additional New Yorkers closer to the election.

Barack Obama's endorsements have a huge record of failure.  At long last, former President Barack Obama has endorsed Joe Biden, who claimed he didn't want his ex-boss' endorsement during the nominating process.  You know what?  Maybe Biden was right, even though he was lying.  Maybe he shouldn't have wanted Obama's endorsement.  For while it is true that Obama is a genius at winning elections, he is only a genius at it when he's the one running.  No one has ever done better for himself in US politics — or been as ineffectual in his efforts to get other people elected.  No one has ever so thoroughly dominated politics — or so thoroughly decimated the party he led to victory. [...] Truth to tell, Obama had already shown his feet of clay in 2009 in a series of endorsements that didn't turn the tide for the candidates he stumped for.

Barack Obama's endorsement of Joe Biden is comedy gold.  [Scroll down]  Try it yourself.  Grab a mirror.  Assume your best 'I'm-being-serious-and-sincere' expression.  Then say out loud that Joe Biden would bring 'leadership guided by knowledge and experience, honesty and humility, empathy and grace' to the Capital.  How'd you do?  Crack a smile?  Of course you did.  Because when Obama said 'knowledge and experience' you thought about Biden's painful struggle to get through the opening of the Declaration of Independence ('You know, the thing').  When he mentioned 'honesty', you thought about his plagiarism and all the ways he and his family have enriched themselves through shady dealings, often with ideological opponents like China.  When he mentioned 'humility', you thought about Biden's habit of bragging about everything from getting the Ukrainian prosecutor investigating his son fired to taking credit for writing the PATRIOT Act.

Long-coveted Obama endorsement is of questionable value for Biden.  Former President Barack Obama is set to reenter the political fray with a long-awaited endorsement of presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, but his magic touch has failed to rub off on others in the past, and it is unclear how much of a boost he can provide his ex-vice president.  Some Democrats fear he could even overshadow Biden.  "Biden definitely needs this endorsement," said a Democratic strategist who requested anonymity to speak candidly.  "But you don't want people drawing comparisons between Obama and Biden on the stump."

Joe Biden: 'I don't need an Obama endorsement'.  Joseph R. Biden says he doesn't need his former boss's endorsement.  In an interview Monday [12/2/2019] with Politico, the former vice president said having had that post under President Barack Obama is as much help as he needs.

2018 Proved (Again) That Obama Is Electoral Kryptonite In Battleground States.  Former President Barack Obama went on a campaign blitz for Democrats in the weeks leading up to the midterm election, but has little to show for his efforts.  Candidates in four of the six battleground states he visited lost big races, and those who succeeded in the other two led comfortably in the polls before he showed up, with the exception of one gubernatorial race.

So how did the Dems Obama campaigned for do on Election Night?  Heading into the 2018 midterm elections, former President Obama hit the stump for a few Democrats.  How did that all play out?  It doesn't bode well for the ex-president's ability to shore up the vote at any other time in the future.

Obama-Endorsed candidates in competitive races all lose.  All of the candidates in competitive races endorsed by former President Barack Obama were losers on Tuesday [11/6/2018].

Everyone Barack Obama Campaigned For Lost Last Night.  The Obama factor was out in full force last night as every Democrat candidate he campaigned for leading up to the Midterm Elections lost.

Biggest loser at midterms?  Barack Obama.  The midterms weren't a blue wave, but they weren't shark fin soup for Republicans either, given that they lost the House by a small margin.  That said, the big loser who stands out here is hard-campaigning President Obama, the guy who thought he was the star of the Democratic Party and who, throwing the tradition of former presidents staying aloof from politics out the window, campaigned hard, long, and loud, for Democrats in this midterm.  Turns out the ones he fought the hardest for lost.  Now he stands exposed as politically irrelevant, powerless, an embarrassment.  Sorry 'bout that legacy thing, Barry-O.

What happened to Obama?  He looked wasted & defeated at Milwaukee rally.  It's not just the grey hair.  He looks wasted; his skin is sallow.  His eyes look frightened.  Look at the bags under his eyes — they weren't there a year ago.  Is he strung out on drugs?  Or is the rumored HIV/AIDS finally catching up with him?  Body language analysis of Obama says he's desperate and defeated.

Obama readies fall campaign push, but some Dems say no thanks.  Former President Obama is set to dive into the midterm elections next week with a speech in Illinois where he is expected to urge Democrats across the country to vote — addressing a problem that plagued the party in 2016.  Obama has kept a low political profile since leaving office, but sources familiar with his plans say he will soon hit the campaign trail to help Democrats in their quest to take back the House, protect vulnerable Senate incumbents and win state legislative races.

Obama Endorsements Mean Little to Democrat Candidates.  The man whom the Left claims is black Superman can't seem to influence elections, even when he helps candidates cheat.  Obama couldn't drag Hillary Clinton fat political ass over the finish line, and apparently he can't do it for others.

Barack Obama endorsements a joke.  Barack Obama is the gift that keeps giving — to Donald Trump and the GOP.  Yesterday [8/1/2018] the former president — who left four Americans for dead in Benghazi then blamed a video — officially inserted himself into the midterm race tweeting endorsements of 81 Democratic candidates.

How D.C.'s Democrats have become irrelevant.  Perhaps Barack Obama's worst political legacy is the devastation he wrought on his own party, not by mean tweets but by making everything about him.  He wanted Obamacare so badly Democrats obediently rammed it through Congress without a single GOP vote.  Obama loved the sole spotlight of fundraisers so much he did on average one a week for eight straight years.  And Democrats still lost everything, including nearly 1,000 powerful seats in state legislatures across the land.

Obama's 'legacy' drive lost Florida for Clinton.  The evidence is mounting that President Obama's overzealous defense of his "opening Cuba" gambit cost Hillary Clinton the state of Florida.  That misstep could end up wiping out most of the president's carefully curated "legacy" achievements.  For the president and his young Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes, the establishment of diplomatic relations with one of the world's last communist dictatorships became something they weirdly defended from any criticism.  Even the smallest amendment that watered down coddling the Castros drew fulminating threats of vetoes from the White House.  Then in late October, President Obama went for broke and decided to stick a bigger needle in his opponents' eye.  He lifted limits on the import of cigars and rum, and then ordered our ambassador to the United Nations to abstain from a vote condemning the US economic embargo on Cuba.

Obama's Regime Has Been Rejected!  This election was a referendum that rejected Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.  It was more about stopping Marxists than it was electing Donald Trump.  Whether our new President stands against everything the old guard stood for is yet to be seen, but I hope that is true. [...] Obama should never have been elected in the first place and if we had been minding the store the way all of us should have, he would never have risen to such heights and be allowed to wreak such damage against America.  We don't want their Marxist agenda and policies and that became glaringly clear last night during the election.

"No president has campaigned strongly for his chosen successor in at least 100 years."
Like Everything Else, Obama's Campaign For Hillary Is Unprecedented.  Some successors try to distance themselves from their predecessors, but Hillary's resume and image are so empty that she has no choice but to run on Obama's coattails.  And Obama is so arrogant that he insists on controlling and dictating the outcome.

The stalled Obama economy is an albatross for Hillary.  Obama is leaving office, but the woman he wants to succeed him, Hillary Clinton, still needs to sell that line of BS to a skeptical public looking for economic relief as the 2016 presidential election approaches.  Can she do it?  It's hard to say.  But one thing is certain:  Clinton's sales (or snow) job just got a lot harder after Thursday's GDP report — which showed the great Obama economy barely growing during the first quarter of the year, underscoring the bad economic hand she'll be forced to play this election season.

Obama Has Just Begun.  Insidiously and inadvertently, Barack Obama is alienating the people and moving the country to the right. [...] By sheer force of his personality, Obama has managed to lose the Democratic Senate and House.  State legislatures and governorships are now predominantly Republican.  Obama's own favorable ratings rarely top 45 percent.  In his mind, great men, whether Socrates or Jesus, were never appreciated in their time.  So it is not surprising that he is not, as he presses full speed ahead.

Democrats' Scheme in Mississippi Fails.  Democrats have decided that they will try to win court cases since they cannot win down-ballot offices, thanks to a leftward pitch under Barack Obama.  (They've lost 13 U.S. Senate seats, 69 House seats, 11 governorships, 913 state legislative seats and a majority of 30 state chambers in less than six years.)  It is an attempted power grab that is very similar to President Obama's use of executive orders.  Rather than trying to flip the House back to the Democrats' control, Obama has bypassed it with executive orders; the Democrats' strategy in southern and Republican-red states is to bypass legislatures with court actions.

'Meet The Press' Breaks Down Democratic Party's Massive Losses Under Obama: The 'Obama Political Machine' Is 'A Lie'.  Under Obama, Democrats have lost 13 Senate seats and 69 House seats in Congress, and the results are even more staggering on a local level.  Democrats have lost 12 governorships, including Kentucky last week with the election of Matt Bevin, 30 state legislative chambers and more than 900 state legislative seats.  That's the worst showing for an incumbent president's party since the Richard Nixon years, due to the taint of Watergate.

Yes, Barack Obama Has Been Terrible for Democrats Nationwide.  A number of leftwing writers have gone into full "protect the precious" mode over Barack Obama.  As more and more people have been noting just how badly Democrats have done in the age of Obama, goal posts are being moved to show that well, we need to look at different starting and ending points for the Democrats.  The reality is that with Barack Obama as President, Democrats have done terribly.  Down to local, municipal seats, we have to go back to the late 1800's to see a party so ruthlessly purged by the voters and, back then, it was the Democrats too.  Under Barack Obama, Republicans control about two-thirds of state legislative chambers, the majority of Governor's Mansions, and both Houses of Congress.  The Democratic bench has been purged leaving behind few young, fresh voices who can take over.  The gains made by Democrats pre-Obama in 2006 and with Obama in 2008 have been destroyed.

Matt Bevin is the next governor of Kentucky.  He has President Obama to thank.  Matt Bevin, the Republican nominee in the Kentucky governor's race, wasn't a very good candidate.  By all accounts, he was standoffish and ill at ease on the campaign trail, and inconsistent — to put it nicely — when it came to policy.  The Republican Governors Association, frustrated with Bevin and his campaign, pulled its advertising from the state.  Polling done in the runup to today's vote showed Bevin trailing state Attorney General Jack Conway (D).  And yet, Bevin won going away on Tuesday night [11/3/2015].  How?  Two words:  Barack Obama.

Obama, Bush, Clinton: Secret Agents.  The record is uncontestable; Obama has destroyed his own party for the immediate future.  Even the left-leaning Politico concedes this. [...] The Iran deal is just the latest of the outrageous acts of a president so enamored of making a place in history for himself that he ignores good sense, public opinion, and the future of his party.

Since Obama Took Office Dems Have Been Decimated All Across the Country.  In 2008, Barack Obama rode into the White House on a wave of Democrat votes, in what many at the time believed to be a permanent Democrat majority.  But instead of permanent superiority, the Democrat Party has been decimated all across the country with 85 of 98 state legislatures becoming more Republican since 2010.

Since President Obama took office, 85 of 98 state legislative bodies got more Republican.  The NCSL's [National Conference of State Legislatures] annual breakdown of the composition of each state's Senate and House or Assembly goes back to 2009, when President Obama was inaugurated.  Since then, the ratio of Republicans to Democrats has tilted to the right in nearly every Senate and nearly every legislature.

Democrats' Vanishing Future.  One of the most underappreciated stories in recent years is the deterioration of the Democratic bench under President Obama's tenure in office.

Obama could sink 2016 Dems.  Nothing better dramatizes the damage that President Obama has done to Democrats than the fact that Republicans now control the House of Representatives, the Senate and a majority of governorships across America.  Nothing better illustrates the reason for this damage than the president's recent behavior on the trade bill, when he attacked and berated liberal members of his party and organized labor, and then claimed success when the bill was passed through his alliance with Republican congressional leaders, infuriating a majority of Democrats in Congress.

Report: Obama Has Severely Weakened Democrats.  The Democratic Party has so severely weakened under the tenure of President Barack Obama that it is relying on former losing candidates to take them through the 2016 election cycle.

Media declare loser in Israeli election: Barack Obama.  Following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's re-election victory Tuesday, the U.S. news media dubbed President Obama the loser in the far-away vote.  "This is a tough break for President Obama," said CBS correspondent Barry Petersen Wednesday morning [3/18/2015].  Politico reported that Obama "might have hoped for a leadership change that would reboot his poisoned relationship" with Israel in the election.  "But he didn't get it on Tuesday."  The Obama administration has endured increasingly chilly relations with Israel under Netanyahu's leadership.

The Move Away From Obama.  As Obama leads Democrats into his final political battles, they are understandably nervous.  Obama has cost them plenty and may still cost them more.  Democrats are now pressed harder on the right and the left and Obama can no longer defend them on either flank.  In congressional seat totals, Democrats are worse off now than they were before Obama took office — holding five fewer Senate seats and 44 fewer House seats than in 2006.  Counting from when a president took office, Obama has cost his party more Senate seats than any president since Carter, and more House seats than any president since Eisenhower.

Why Are Democrats Stuck With Hillary? Blame Obama.  The party controlling the White House almost always loses down the ballot, especially for a two-term president, according to Geoffrey Skelley, associate editor of Sabato's Crystal Ball.  But under Obama, Democrats have lost more than 900 state legislative seats, 69 U.S. House seats and 13 U.S. senate seats, all the most since World War II.  Democrats also have lost 11 governorships.

Biden: Running away from Obama in 2016 would be 'mistake' for Dems.  Vice President Joseph R. Biden said Democratic presidential candidates in 2016 should embrace President Obama's economic policies and "run on what we have done" instead of running away from the administration.  "In my view, those seeking to lead the nation should protect and defend and run, yes run, on what we've done and own what we have done," Mr. Biden said in a speech in Des Moines, Iowa.  "Stand for what we have done.  Acknowledge what we have done.  And be judged on what we have done, if we have any chance for continued resurgence in 2016."

Obama Takes on His Own Party.  It's no secret that Harry Reid, the former Senate majority leader, now loathes Obama.  But the conflict between Senate Democrats and Obama is approaching explosive temperatures.  Senator Menendez accused Obama of parroting talking points out of Tehran as the Senate approaches a sanctions vote.  Obama has threatened to veto bills on Iran and Keystone, along with others, leading to a showdown in which Democrats will have to choose between Obama and electability.  The last time Democrats chose wrongly they lost the Senate.

The True Great Failure of Barack Obama.  The currently greatest open secret of our political system right now is that everyone more or less concedes that Barack Obama's political coalition was designed specifically to get Barack Obama elected, and pretty much nobody else.  Outside of the Presidency (admittedly a big exception), the Democratic party's hold on the levers of government is at an ebb not seen in most of our lifetimes.  And the Democrats didn't get much in exchange for all that legacy power.

Obama 'Frustrated' Dems Didn't Run on His 'Great Record' in Midterms.  In an interview with National Public Radio, President Barack Obama sounded off on the defeat handed to his party on Election Day earlier this year and said Democrats may have fared better if they had ran [sic] on his "great record."

Obama becomes toxic to Democrats with presidential aspirations.  Whether out of frustration or political necessity, some of President Obama's closest lieutenants from his first term are distancing themselves from Mr. Obama as 2016 approaches.  The latest is none other than Vice President Joseph R. Biden, who usually boasts about the lack of daylight between the president and himself.

The Obama trap: Hillary Clinton's popularity drops, president's record an albatross.  President Obama 's high-risk immigration gamble may have severe consequences for Washington, the country and the Democratic Party, most of all Hillary Clinton.  Mrs. Clinton's putative bid for the Democratic presidential nomination is already running into trouble.  The national exit poll from the recently completed midterm elections showed her with less than a majority of voters (43%) saying she would make a good president.  When pitted against an unnamed Republican candidate, Mrs. Clinton lost 40% to 34%.

The Emperor's New Close.  It's no secret that the president's proposed executive actions are intended to nail down the Hispanic vote and ultimately ensure that only Democrats occupy the Oval Office.  But there's a catch.  At the rate things are going, there may not be any prominent Democrats out there to run.  This year's midterm elections not only shellacked the Democrats, as even the liberal press has admitted, it more importantly cut off the lifeblood of many would-be liberal leaders.  Even in deep blue strongholds like Illinois and Massachusetts, Democratic senators, governors and congressional representatives have been replaced by up-and-coming Republicans.

What's Distinctive About Democrats' Losses Under Obama? Their Magnitude.  [Scroll down]  But what's distinctive about Mr. Obama's presidency in this regard has been the magnitude of his party's congressional losses.  Democrats emerged from the 2008 elections with 256 House seats and 57 Senate seats.  After this month's elections, the Democrats are likely to have 188 House seats and 44 Senate seats (not including the two independents that caucus with Senate Democrats), according to Kyle Kondit, managing editor of Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

Black Democrats bemoan decision to run from Obama.  Some black political leaders think Democratic candidates who distanced themselves from President Barack Obama sapped enthusiasm among African-Americans in states where they anchor the party's base. [...] "The president is still a great driver of African-American turnout," said North Carolina state Rep. Rodney Moore.  "Kay Hagan supported him during her six-year tenure, so it seems disrespectful that she would not even defend the good things that have happened during his administration."

Bad Decisions Came Back to Haunt Democrats in Midterms.  Democrats are now sifting through the rubble of what was their party on election night, examining losses — and even near losses — that seemed fairly inconceivable just a couple of weeks ago. [...] No truer words were ever spoken then when President Obama told a Northwestern University audience last month, "I am not on the ballot this fall.  Michelle's pretty happy about that.  But make no mistake, these policies are on the ballot, every single one of them."

Typhoid Barry.  Although asymptomatic herself, Mary Mallon is believed to have infected 53 people with typhoid fever at the start of the last century, of whom 3 died.  Barack Obama, electorally immune from defeat, has become an asymptomatic carrier of the defeat virus for Democrats.  With two more years of his term ahead, the party faces some very decisions.  Do they continue to shun him as they did during the campaign?

Narcissist In Chief Says Midterms Weren't About Him.  A month ago, President Obama declared that "every single one" of his policies was on the ballot this November.  Now, in the wake of his party's crushing defeat, he's trying to take it back.

US midterms: Barack Obama has crippled the Democrats.  This much is certain:  no matter how disappointed the American people are in Barack Obama, the feeling will be mutual.  One senses that he's never been a huge fan of the voters. [...] It was Obama who presided over the slow moral disintegration of the Democrats and so it's Obama who should take the lion's share of the blame.  Oh, it's true that most presidents suffer from a backlash in their sixth year in office — but few have had such a dramatic long-term effect upon the nature of their party.

Obama's reverse Midas touch:  President Obama saw the Democratic gubernatorial candidates in Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Wisconsin and his home-state Illinois lose after personally stumping for them in the waning moments before Election Day.

Obama's Economic Propaganda Has a Limited Shelf Life.  Democratic candidates are doing their best to steer clear of Obama, but I don't think many of them want to go so far as to specifically condemn his economic record, because most voters know they've enabled him every step of the way.  And Obama himself would never agree to unveil a new set of economic or health care policies, because he is congenitally incapable of admitting mistakes and changing his course.

Obama: 'Don't think we're not keeping score, brother.  They had tried to deny voting for Obama, claimed they would be his worst nightmares if returned to Washington (when they were not busy airbrushing Wikipedia entries and their own websites), tried to distract voters with claims of misogyny and racism.  They refused Obama's visits as if he had Ebola (his money was more than welcome, however).  But, try as they might, they could not hide from their shameful histories and records.

Pity Barack Obama.  Poor Barack Obama.  For him, campaigning is "fun."  But for the last few months, almost nobody has wanted to play with him.  He was only invited to campaign for one Democrat running for the U.S. Senate, and that was for a candidate with an insurmountable lead.  (Gary Peters in Michigan.)  His public schedule through Tuesday [11/4/2014] showed that he hadn't made a public appearance since last Friday.  He was conspicuously absent in the days leading up to, and including, Election Day.

Post-election wrap-up in the New York Times:
Voters' Second Thoughts on Hope and Change.  A decade after President Obama made his national political debut with an appeal for Americans to put aside their divisions, the midterm elections on Tuesday delivered a resounding rejection of his call for consensus.  Mr. Obama's poor poll numbers dragged down candidates and hastened his party's decline in the South and the West, as Democrats watched their hold on the Senate slip away.

The Editor says...
(1) When a Democrat says he wants Americans to "put aside their divisions," it means he wants an end to competition.  Put aside your divisions and let us take over.  That makes good filler for a teleprompted speech but it was never going to happen.  (2) "Mr. Obama's poor poll numbers dragged down candidates" is like saying your outdoor thermometer is making you cold.  Poll numbers are merely an indication of disapproval.  Mr. Obama's abject dishonesty and rank incompetence dragged down the Democrat candidates, even though the candidates stayed as far away from Obama as they could.

Voters know whose policies are on the ballot.  Republicans could scarcely believe their ears when, a few weeks back, President Obama injected himself into the very heart of the midterm election skirmish, under the bizarre notion that he was just the adrenaline struggling Democratic candidates needed.  Hadn't he noticed 2014 had been the Year of Snubbing Obama?  I mean, they'd rather have shared a quarantine bubble in Newark with Kaci Hickox than be seen on the same stage with Obama.

No Matter How Well They've Run, Senate Democrats Can't Seem to Break Free of Obama.  Within 24 hours of the president's October comments that his policies were "on the ballot" this fall even if he wasn't, multiple Republican candidates (including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in Kentucky) released TV ads using the tape to bind their Democratic opponents more tightly to the president.

Selling the Illusion of Economic Success to Salvage Elections.  While almost no incumbent Democratic senators want him anywhere near their state, President Obama claims to understand their desire to keep their distance, but acknowledges that his policies are on the ballot in virtually all of these elections.  He says that the important thing is, while they may be distancing themselves from him personally, they support his agenda.

Democrats' Cold Shoulder Season.  [Sen. Mark] Udall has claimed that he's "the last person they want to see coming at the White House."  Actually, it's the other way around:  Udall fled Denver when Obama came to town — even though the president was there to raise money for Udall's campaign.

Obama's Extraordinary Damage to His Party.  How much damage is Barack Obama doing to the Democratic Party?  According to the respected political analyst Stuart Rothenberg, the answer is quite a lot.

Obama's 'Fair Weather' Democratic Friends May Have Sealed Their Own Fate.  President Obama has come in for huge amounts of criticism from Republicans for his fundraising activities in the months leading up to the midterm elections.  He has appeared on the West Coast, the East Coast and points in between, usually in private events, pulling in millions of dollars for the Democratic Party.  Obama booked his odd travel itinerary because he hasn't been welcome anywhere else.

O-No: Voters More Apt To Oppose Obama Backers By 2-1.  [Scroll down]  The poll also found that 40% of likely voters say they are less inclined to vote for a candidate who supports Obama, while only 22% are more inclined — nearly a 2-to-1 ratio.  Among independents, the ratio is 3-to-1 (37% to 12%).  Many Democrats running for re-election have been shunning Obama or trying to distance themselves from his policies.  Another sign of potential trouble for Democrats is the poll's finding that 61% of likely voters say that ObamaCare is of "high importance" in determining their vote.

It Turns Out that Obama's Policies Really Are on the Ballot, You Nitwits.  "I am not on the ballot this fall.  Michelle's pretty happy about that.  But make no mistake, my policies are on the ballot.  Every single one of them," said President Barrack Obama two weeks ago.  There can be no doubt that the agenda of the past six years is a factor in the mid-term elections in two weeks, but for the president to so inextricably conjoin his policies with the election increases the significance and possible outcomes.

Why Those White Women Want Nothing To Do With Barack Obama.  If a group of white Republican women adamantly refused to go near a black man and complained loudly about him, the political press would destroy them as racists.  That is what is happening, however, in Louisiana, North Carolina, and Georgia.  Two of the three women, Landrieu and Nunn, are the legacies of old Democrat families in their home states.  Hagan is politically connected and of a Democratic political family, though not quite as much an in-state legacy family.  These three women want nothing to do with America's first black President.

White House in Denial: President Obama Is Costing Democrats Control of the Senate.  White House officials are preemptively spinning a midterm defeat, and they're using their own fantasies to do it.  They're starting to blame candidates for not supporting President Obama enough.

Can Democrats hold the Senate by running away from Obama — and their own records?  Running away from an unpopular president of your own party is a time-honored tactic in midterm elections.  The problem is that it rarely works.  That is even truer than usual for the current crop of endangered Senate Democrats.  Their efforts to distance themselves from President Obama's record — rather than defend it — has become a source of friction with the White House.

Obama Visits Maryland; Democrat Drops 9 Points?  How could this be possible?  I mean, what has happened in the last week?  For one thing, President Obama — not welcome on the trail in red states — campaigned for [Anthony] Brown in Maryland, where crowds began streaming out during his speech, leaving empty bleachers behind.  Could it be that President Obama is such a drag on Democrats that he even hurts them in ... Maryland?  That's one possibility.

Jon Karl Presses Earnest: Is Obama 'Toxic' for Campaigning Senate Democrats?  Lots of grilling during Monday's [10/27/2014] White House press briefing. [...] "We are eight days out from midterm elections that could be highly consequential for this president," Karl began.  "Why is he here without any public schedule at the White House, why did he spend the entire weekend completely outside of public view?  How can he is not out campaigning with and for Democratic candidates in these races?"

Democrats dare not speak of Obama.  In 2013, the Congressional Quarterly news service reviewed 108 Senate votes where Obama took a position.  The Democratic incumbents in three crucial and competitive races — Senators Mark Begich of Alaska, Mark Udall of Colorado, and Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire — voted with Obama 97, 99, and 99 percent of the time.  It's hard to run away from numbers like that, and even harder when the president is publicly bragging about them.

Running against Obama's postponed November surprises.  The scariest Halloween trick on any Democratic campaign between now and Friday [10/31/2014] would have Mr. Obama show up unannounced with an offer to help.  Since he's poison on the campaign trail, Mr. Obama spent Saturday on the links at Fort Belvoir, playing his 201st round of golf as president.  His golf score is a secret, too, but the informed word is that he hasn't broken par yet.

Obama Wants the Democrats to Lose.  We were told by nearly every outlet of the liberal media in 2008 that Barack Hussein Obama had transformed the political landscape.  The politician that transcended politics, Obama was to be the defining figure of his generation, a Reaganesque icon who would remake the rhetoric of America for ages to come.  Now, six years later, he is a millstone around the Democrats' necks.  As we approach a midterm election in which it appears the Democrats will be trounced, those running for national office as members of Obama's own party are shunning him.  Those who once worshipped him as a political god are openly renouncing all association with him.  Democrat politicians in tight races are refusing to admit that they ever even voted for him.

Clintons bring star power to campaign trail as Democrats shun Obama.  On the campaign trail, President Obama's status as the Democratic Party's No. 1 rock star has been supplanted by a power couple kicking off their political comeback tour.  While Mr. Obama has been a rare visitor on the stump over the past few weeks, Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton are in demand, parachuting into battleground states and rallying support for Democrats in key races.

Obama is Persona Non Grata Even Among His Own Party.  President Obama is nearing the end of his sixth year in office, with his unpopular agenda in ruins, his job approval polls at record lows, and his party facing sweeping losses in next month's elections.  Democratic candidates are distancing themselves from him or giving him the cold shoulder, while others refuse to admit they even voted for him.

Where Is Your Soaring Rhetoric Now, Mr. President?  President Obama is about as popular on the campaign trail these days as the Ebola virus.  Democrats flee from him.  At the mere mention of his name, they betray him.  Facing dejected and angry voters, Democrats play dumb and pretend they never supported him.

On Campaign Road, Uneasy Democrats Show Obama Their Tail Lights.  Bracing for a difficult election in just over a week, when they could lose control of the Senate, Democrats exasperated with the White House are already moving to pin blame on President Obama, whom Republicans have made the centerpiece of the campaign. [...] Senior elected officials, strategists and donors have begun to openly criticize Mr. Obama, contending that his low popularity and some ill-advised remarks have proved toxic for candidates trying to distinguish themselves from the president to appeal to swing voters.

Hagan Can't Say If Obama Is A Strong Leader.  In North Carolina, MSNBC's Kasie Hunt asked incumbent Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan whether she felt if Obama was a strong leader.  Let's just say Hagan could not say anything — with a degree of confidence or certainty — that was positive about Obama.  Straight up — she avoided answering the question.

Alaska Sen. Mark Begich: I voted for Obama, but that's "irrelevant".  Democratic Sen. Mark Begich has distanced himself from President Obama as he seeks reelection in deeply conservative Alaska, but he acknowledged Wednesday that he voted for Mr. Obama in 2008 and 2012.  Still, Begich added, those votes are "irrelevant" because the president is leaving office in two years.

Obama Can't Help Throwing His Party Under His Bus.  Politically speaking, President Barack Obama is almost as toxic as the ominous viruses he continues to mismanage.  Every Democratic candidate fears the contagion and seeks to quarantine himself from his presence and policies.  It's hardly unfair to say that Obama has earned his current condition, having squandered more unearned goodwill than any president in recent memory.  Despite his fall, during a speech at Northwestern University earlier this month, Obama couldn't resist blurting out:  "I'm not on the ballot this fall.  Michelle's pretty happy about that.  But make no mistake:  These policies are on the ballot — every single one of them."  Actually, he didn't just blurt it out.  These were prepared remarks.

The Real Party of the Rich.  [Scroll down]  President Obama is so unpopular that Democratic candidates avoid mentioning his name, much less inviting him to appear at their campaign events or in their TV spots.  Meanwhile, the economy is stagnant.  Foreign policy failures continue to stack up.  America's global influence fades.  Two-thirds of Americans are pessimistic about the country's future.  Democrats have few national issues they're comfortable talking about.

How Barack Obama's unpopularity is affecting the midterm election.  Barack Obama, once the popular President who helped get Democrats elected in several Republican states in 2008 has turned into a liability for the party with the midterm elections looming.  While the President has tried to make the case that his policies have steered the country away from the brink of economic collapse and laid a foundation for growth, many voters are frustrated by the slow progress and his message has been drowned out by crises in Iraq, Syria, Ukraine and western Africa.

The Democratic Panic.  After a few days of trying to ignore the question, Michelle Nunn, the Democratic candidate for the United States Senate in Georgia, acknowledged on Friday [10/17/2014] that she had voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.  By this year's standards, that's pretty forthright, especially compared with Alison Lundergan Grimes, the Democrat running for the Senate in Kentucky, who refuses to discuss her presidential vote.

The Democrats are running, but President Obama won't let them hide.  [Scroll down]  Anyway, the president, who is fully aware that Democratic candidates like Kay Hagan in North Carolina, Mark Pryor in Arkansas, Mark Begich in Alaska and Alison Lundergan Grimes in Kentucky — to name a few — have been running from him, can't suppress his instinct to let voters know that they are all loyal followers of his.  While the incumbent Democrats — most of whom have voted with him almost all the time, try to claim their independence, the president is actually the one calling them out and telling the truth.  Democrats are going to have a hard time hiding behind their phony images for much longer, because President Obama has made it clear that most every Democrat running for office in 2014 will be pretty much in lockstep with the liberal Democratic leadership.

Chris Matthews on Dems Refusing to Admit They Voted For Obama: "It's Like Obama Has Ebola".  Chris Matthews reacts to Democratic Senate candidates Michelle Nunn (D-GA) and Mark Begich (D-AK), an incumbent, dodging the question if they voted for Obama.  "That's the way people walk past guys who are trying to get a buck or a quarter from somebody," Matthews said describing the candidates ignoring the question from a tracker.  "It's like Obama has Ebola," Matthews said on Monday's broadcast of Hardball on MSNBC.  "I wasn't near him! I didn't touch him!"

A vote for Democrats is 'A Vote for President Obama'.  Just how ignorant do the professional scaremongers of the Democratic party think that we are that we might not recognize that the ability to say This politician is a fool; do not vote for fools is the bedrock of the First Amendment?  What are they scared of?

For Democrats, Obama is the October surprise.  No Democrat wants to be tied to a president who promises prosperity and delivers malaise.  "The reminders are everywhere," says Freedom Partners spokesman James Davis.  "The struggle to find a good-paying job, health care uncertainty because of broken promises, tax dollars taken from their paychecks only to be wasted, special treatment for politicians and a failure of government to care for veterans.  Election Day is Americans' opportunity to stand up and say 'enough.'"

Dems running scared from Obama.  At least four Democrats seeking House or Senate seats refuse to say whether they voted for Candidate Obama in 2008 or 2012.  Sen. Mark Begich of Alaska pretended he didn't hear the question and simply walked away.  Rep. Natalie Tennant of West Virginia would say only that she voted for the "Democratic Party" (FYI, Natalie, a guy named Barack Obama was at the very top of that ballot).  Michelle Nunn, asked who she voted for, let a staffer step in to say, "Would you leave her alone?" A supporter answered for her.  And in the most clumsy attempt to flee any relationship with Mr. Obama, candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes has repeatedly refused to say whether she voted for him.

The deadly virus in the electorate.  Rarely if ever has a presidency dissolved so dramatically, so quickly, and with his approval hovering at 40 percent and threatening to sink lower, Mr. Obama has no capital left if he knew how to spend it.  Some of his most loyal followers and reliable liege men won't even admit to having ever voted for him when everybody knows they did.

The Politics of Psychopathology.  Obama is now widely seen as a failure even by some of his most prominent and voluble supporters.  A few years ago, Democratic candidates for office were eager to be seen with Obama, but in the 2014 election cycle, Obama is only marginally more popular than Ebola.  The people who in 2008 were so fervent about prospects under Obama seem not to have dropped the whole idea of Marxist big government (they still support socialized medicine in the form of ObamaCare) but they have certainly dropped Obama.

President Doofus.  The cost of supporting Obama is now greater than the cost of abandoning him.  The cover-up for Obama is over.  The man and his Administration are completely incompetent, so much so that most Democrats and media no longer try to defend him.  Both are running from him as fast as they dare.  The reluctance to abandon him earlier is understandable.  Abandoning a President, particularly one of your own Party or one that you helped put in office, is difficult.  Doing so can be dangerous.  No one wants to be the first to embark on such a path.  Waiting too long is also dangerous.

White House to red-state Democrats: Don't blame Precious if you lose.  The GOP's spent six months warning red-staters that a vote for Democrat X is a vote for Obama.  That's basically true, The One helpfully conceded yesterday [10/20/2014]. [...] At the beginning of October, he told a crowd that his policies are on the ballot this November, which felt like the kiss of death to centrist Dems who've been arguing precisely the opposite.

Al Sharpton, GOP operative.  In an interview for his radio show, the Rev. Al said he spoke to Obama "about those Democratic politicians who haven't embraced him on the campaign trail."  He's referring to the growing number of Democratic candidates who won't say whether they voted for Obama.  Obama answered Sharpton with a gift to the GOP.

Audience Laughs at Shaheen for Ducking Question on Obama.  Sen Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) was laughed at by the audience at the New Hampshire Senate Debate on Tuesday when she would not give a clear answer on whether she approved of the job President Obama is doing.  When asked to give a simple, yes or no response to a hypothetical pollster asking, "do you approve of the job President Obama is doing?" Shaheen responded, "in some ways I approve, and some things I don't approve," a line that caused the audience to start laughing.

Krauthammer: Obama humiliated by lack of demand for him on campaign trail.  President Obama was once a "citizen of the world" and a "political rockstar," according to Charles Krauthammer, but now the lack of demand for him on the campaign trail has become a "a total humiliation" for the president.

President Obama's Ego Targets Democrats Trying To Gain Distance.  Yesterday [10/20/2014] in a recorded interview with White House advisor, MSNBC's Al Sharpton, President Obama made it crystal clear that every candidate seeking such distance was, in actuality, 100% in alignment with him in all policy positions.

Why a GOP Wave Election Will Surprise the Media.  Obama keeps tying himself to the midterm elections while 60 percent of likely voters disapprove of his performance and 54 percent find him personally unfavorable.  Only 28 percent of likely voters definitively approve of his management of government, while 62 percent disapprove or lean toward disapproval.  This AP poll is just the latest to show Obama's drag on the chances for Democrats to avoid disaster, and even in their own series, it shows a significant shift away from Democrats over the last month.  Fortunately for Obama and the Democrats, the media still isn't paying attention.

Obama on Dems Running Away from Him: 'These Are All Folks Who Vote With Me'.  President Obama discussed the election and how "all" the Democrats running away from him "have supported my agenda" in an interview with Al Sharpton earlier today [10/20/2014].

White House shrugs off Obama remarks.  The White House is shrugging off President Obama's latest remarks tying Democratic candidates to his record, saying Obama was only trying to help motivate black voters to come to the polls.  Obama in a Monday interview on the Rev. Al Sharpton's radio show said Democrats under fire on the campaign trail "vote with me" and "have supported my agenda in Congress."  The comments were surprising given the efforts Democratic candidates, particularly in red states like Arkansas, Alaska and Louisiana, have made to distance themselves from the unpopular Obama.

Obama: Hey, all these red-state Democrats running away from me are strong supporters who vote with me!  As I've mentioned before, there's maybe nothing that cheers me more about Republican prospects that Democrats acting so very, very desperate.  You'll hear not a thing about a tone of "unprecedented negativity" in this year's ads because the worst examples are coming from endangered Democrats.  But just because the press doesn't report the pattern doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

WH defends Obama's campaign absence.  It's not strange that President Obama is largely absent from the campaign trail just two weeks before Election Day, the White House insisted Monday [10/20/2014], pointing to global crises like Ebola. [...] The president's absence from the campaign trail is seen largely as a reflection of his disappointing approval ratings and the risk he would hurt vulnerable Democratic candidates more than he would help.  Candidates in crucial states like Louisiana, Arkansas, Alaska and North Carolina have actively distanced themselves from the president, and Obama so far is only scheduled to appear alongside one congressional candidate before Election Day.

Obama: Dem candidates avoiding me 'have supported my agenda'.  President Obama delivered a blow to Democratic Senate candidates looking to distance themselves from his flagging approval ratings Monday [10/20/2014], saying lawmakers avoiding him on the campaign trail were "strong allies and supporters" who have "supported my agenda in Congress."  The president said that Democrats faced a "tough map" and noted that many Democrats in crucial races "are in states that I didn't win" during a radio interview with Rev. Al Sharpton.

Obama giftwraps another sound bite for Republicans.  A couple weeks ago, President Obama declared that, while he wasn't on the Nov. 4 ballot, his policies were.  And just about every GOP candidate in a red or swing state soon launched an ad using that comment to tie his or her Democratic opponent to Obama.  Well, Obama appears to have just handed Republicans some more ammunition.  In an interview with Rev. Al Sharpton on Monday [10/20/2014], Obama defended his support for candidates in top races who haven't welcomed Obama to campaign with them.  "The bottom line is, though, these are are all folks who vote with me; they have supported my agenda in Congress," Obama said.

How unpopular is President Obama?  So unpopular is President Barack Obama these days that the (D) following Democratic candidates' names might stand for Denial.  And, so desperate are political pundits for any fresh news crumb that a molehill quickly becomes a mountain.  One ill-chosen word — or, worse, failure to answer a reporter's question — and the candidate is suddenly redrawn into a caricature he doesn't recognize.  Just ask Mitt "47 percent" Romney or former Virginia Gov. George "macaca" Allen.  Now add to the list Kentucky Democrat and U.S. Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes, who, upon dodging a question about whether she voted for Obama, is sitting atop a mountain of media pain.

The man who wasn't there: Obama and the 2014 midterms.  President Obama is the most inconsequential man in America, at least when it comes to the 2014 midterms.  Every week we have further confirmation that rigor mortis is settling on his presidency.  Indeed, he is not just politically ineffective but also useless or harmful to his own party.

Democrats Turn On Obama.  Democrats seem rather less enthralled with Mr. Obama these days.  In retrospect, Obama's ascension to the presidency wasn't quite the moment the world was waiting for.  Increasingly that's the judgment of Democrats.  This year, in fact, Democrats have leveled unusually sharp and damaging charges against the president.

In Run-Up To Midterms, Obama Scarce From Campaign Trail.  Just three weeks to go until the midterm elections and with control of the Senate hanging in the balance, candidates are scrambling toward the finish line.  One key figure, however, has been largely absent:  President Obama.  President Obama has appeared at zero public campaign events this cycle, opting instead to tap into his fundraising prowess to boost Democratic candidates behind closed-doors.

ABC News: President Obama Has Been to Zero Campaign Events This Cycle.  ABC News published an astonishing admission today [10/13/2014], revealing that President Barack Obama has not attended a single public campaign event for a Democratic candidate as the party heads into a white-hot election season.

Voters in 49 of 50 states sending message 'against Obama'.  More voters in 49 of the nation's 50 states plan to use Election Day to voice opposition to President Obama and his policies than those who want to show support, according to a shocking new poll that suggests the president is hurting Democrats this election season.

The media ignoring the whiff of desperation emanating from Democrats.  In Kentucky, Alison Lundergan Grimes, once the Democrats great hope to unseat the perpetually unpopular Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), contorted herself into knots to avoid admitting she voted for Barack Obama.  Her sloppy evasion prompted even observers like NBC's Chuck Todd to concede she had "disqualified" herself. [...] The press has largely failed to notice the Democrats' worst week ever, but what is more egregious is that the political media has also failed to observe another fascinating phenomenon:  Democrats are abandoning their own brand.

McConnell ad hits Grimes on 'devastating' dodge in Ky. Senate.  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) released a tough new ad Monday [10/13/2014] that bashes Alison Lundergan Grimes (D) for refusing to admit whether she voted for President Obama.

Alison Lundergan Grimes Again Dodges Whether She Voted For Obama.  Kentucky Democratic Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes has taken heat from the left and right for recently refusing to admit whether she voted for Barack Obama for president.  So it surprised observers when she again dodged the question when pressed during Monday night's U.S. Senate debate with Republican Mitch McConnell.

Alison Lundergan Grimes Is Running the Worst Senate Campaign of the Year.  It seems like a safe assumption that if you're currently a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, you voted for Barack Obama two years ago.  And if you're a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate who also served as a delegate for Obama at the 2012 Democratic Convention?  Well then, yeah, it's a very good bet you pulled the lever for the president that year.  But Alison Lundergan Grimes, currently the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Kentucky and a delegate for Obama at the Democratic National Convention in 2012, apparently thinks voters are idiots.

40 painful seconds of Alison Lundergan Grimes refusing to say whether she voted for President Obama.  Alison Lundergan Grimes (D), who is trying to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) this fall, appeared before the Louisville Courier-Journal editorial board on Thursday to make her pitch for their endorsement.  The life-long Democrat, whose father represented Kentucky for the party in the state House and who herself has been on the ballot in the state on the Democratic ticket, was asked a simple question.  Did she vote for President Obama in 2008 and 2012? And she didn't answer.  Repeatedly.

Barack Obama: the end of a love affair.  With November's mid-term elections less than a month away, even fellow Democrats won't be seen dead with the man who once transformed their party's fortunes.  Apart from some closed-door fundraisers, Mr Obama is all but invisible on the campaign trail.

The disappearance of Obama the campaigner.  It was a cloudless Sunday in Arlington, Virginia, and little did the crowd of 1,600 standing inside Washington-Lee High School realize they were witnessing something of a political vanishing act.  "Are you fired up?" President Obama asked with characteristic gusto.  The date was Nov. 3, 2013.  Mr. Obama hasn't been seen in public at a campaign rally since.

Fearing the 'Obama factor' in midterms.  Legendary GOP campaign strategist Lee Atwater was guided by a political maxim he called the Napoleonic rule:  Never interfere with the enemy when he is in the process of defeating himself.  Atwater, a master political infighter without peer, would be jumping up and down with glee if he had lived to see what is now happening to President Obama and his party leading up to the 2014 midterm elections.

Why Would Obama Try to Make the Election About Himself?  The president's approval ratings aren't great anywhere these days, and his party will only hold on if its candidate can survive in Southern states where Obama is especially unpopular — places like Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana.  These candidates are eager to make the race about anything other than the president — because if it's a referendum on him, the attack ads, as they say, write themselves.

In This Election, Obama's Party Benches Him.  When Mr. Obama entered the campaign fray last week, he did so by returning to the unconditional embrace of his own hometown, in a blue state where the incumbent Democratic senator faces scant opposition and the Democratic governor is running in part on his support for the Affordable Care Act.  On Tuesday [10/7/2014], the president attended private fund-raisers in Manhattan, to be followed by similar events in Los Angeles and San Francisco.  Arkansas it is not.

Bill Clinton tells Arkansans: Don't protest Obama in midterm vote.  Former President Bill Clinton urged voters in his home state Monday [10/6/2014] not to use the midterm election as a protest against the White House, as he toured the state to help Democrats' efforts to prevent a GOP takeover in Arkansas.

Even a softball question about Obama is enough to make this Democrat crumble.  Sen. Mark Pryor is in the fight of his life protecting his seat against midterm election challenger Rep. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.  The Arkansas Democrat has worked hard throughout the race to distance himself from President Obama and the White House's policies, disguising his political allegiances so as not to sour the red state's voters against his re-election bid.  But his attempts to distance himself from Obama are not always so graceful.

In Arkansas, Bill Clinton tries to save Democrats from Barack Obama.  In what is likely to become a theme of the last weeks of campaigning before the midterm elections, former President Bill Clinton all but begged voters here in Arkansas not to use their vote as an expression of disapproval for Barack Obama.  The president is playing an outsized role in the race between Arkansas Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor and Republican challenger Rep. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. Obama is seriously unpopular here; a recent survey by the Democratic polling firm Public Policy Polling put his job approval rating at 31 percent, versus 62 percent disapproval.

Voters have turned decidedly against President Obama.  Voters have turned decidedly hostile toward President Obama and his policies.  That's not just my partisan view; it is empirical data.  A poll released over the weekend shows that 32 percent of voters are using their midterm election votes to send a message of opposition to the president.

David Axelrod: It was a 'mistake' for Obama to say his policies are on the ballot.  A former top adviser to President Obama said Sunday [10/5/2014] that it was a "mistake" for Obama to say in a speech last week that his policies are effectively on the ballot in the midterm elections this fall.  "I wouldn't put that line there," David Axelrod said on NBC's "Meet The Press."  In a Thursday speech, Obama said:  "I am not on the ballot this fall.  Michelle's pretty happy about that.  But make no mistake:  These policies are on the ballot.  Every single one of them."

Does Obama Secretly Hate His Own Party?  What to make of Obama's head-scratchingly counterproductive statement that while he is not the on ballot next month, his policies are — every single one of them.  Every red state Democrat is running for the hills, because they all know they are in trouble more because of Obama's policies than Obama himself.

28 words that Democrats really wish President Obama didn't say today.  President Obama was at Northwestern University on Thursday to deliver an economic speech that, he and his team hoped, would lay out the case for why the public is better off today than they were six years ago — even if they didn't feel it in their everday lives.  Instead, Obama just gave every Republican ad-maker in the country more fodder for negative ads linking Democratic candidates to him.

Captain Obama handcuffs Democrats to the deck chairs on the Titanic.  There's so much happening in the news right now that Obama declaring the 2014 elections are a referendum on his Presidency probably won't get as much notice as it deserves.  Along with his telling amnesty activists that "no force on Earth can stop us," this should figure prominently in Republican campaign ads for the rest of the season... a prospect that must have [greatly concerned some] congressional Democrats, especially those who have been working overtime to distance themselves from Obama, or even pretend they are actively opposed to his agenda.  So why would Obama do something like this? [...] Jim Treacher at the Daily Caller wonders if Obama's actually trying to sabotage the Democrat candidates who ran on "Obama Who?" platforms, because he's mad at them.

Democrats running for office ditch Obama ties.  Alison Lundergan Grimes has campaigned with former president Bill Clinton and Senator Elizabeth Warren by her side.  But the Democratic candidate for US Senate has not appeared with the leader of her own party, President Obama.  Instead, it almost seems as if Grimes is running against the president.

King Barry Is Not On The Ballot, Says Everybody But King Barry.  The only time he tells the truth is when it can hurt somebody who has crossed him.  And by running as fast as they can from his disastrous policies, by distancing themselves as far as possible from him, they've crossed him.

What's Michelle Obama really campaigning for?  There's much more to come in the 31 remaining days.  The cover story is both Obamas are dutifully trying to help Democrats.  Because of his own unpopularity and that of his programs and scandals, the president's not being invited to do the hands-in-the-air joint campaign appearances that Mrs. Obama has.  He's bent on fundraisers, usually high-priced events ($32,400 on up to $100,000 per person) tacked on to to some official presidential appearance to help split the travel costs of Air Force One.

As Michelle Obama Campaigns, Some Democrats Fear Her Last Name Is a Liability.  In a measure of how deeply unpopular her husband is in Republican-leaning battleground states, Democratic Senate candidates there worry that Mrs. Obama's presence would tie them too closely to the president they are trying to distance themselves from, just as undecided voters are making up their minds.  "She's awesome, but it just brings in the name Obama," said a Democratic strategist in a state with a close Senate race, who, like most other Democrats interviewed, declined to be identified discussing politics involving Mrs. Obama.

In Arkansas, It's Tom Cotton vs. Barack Obama.  Tom Cotton has been traveling this large, rural state in a camouflage-painted RV, on the hunt for an "elusive" and "mysterious" Arkansan.  This enigmatic figure is one who invariably sides with President Obama on the issues — a stance generally viewed with disdain in a state that voted for Mitt Romney by 24 percentage points in 2012.  "I can't find him anywhere I go in Arkansas!" the Republican congressman tells a group of supporters gathered last week at JJ's Lakeside Café, located here in the southeastern part of the state, a region that traditionally has voted Democratic.  "The only place I find him is in the United States Senate."  Cotton is referring, of course, to his opponent:  Mark Pryor, the lone Democrat in the state's congressional delegation.

These days, Democrats aren't talking much about Obama in congressional speeches.  Much has been written this election cycle about the Democrats distancing themselves from Obama ahead of the midterm elections.  Some Democratic candidates in tough races regularly emphasize their differences with the president.  And Obama is persona non grata on the campaign trail (unless it's inside private high-dollar fundraiser dinners).

Poll: In Colorado, Obama is a drag on Democrats.  The 2008 Democratic convention that nominated Obama was held in Denver, and the Centennial State twice has cast its electoral votes for him.  But those surveyed now disapprove of the job he's doing as president by 56%-42%.  His favorable-unfavorable rating also is upside down, with a 55% majority saying they have an unfavorable view of him, 43% a favorable one.

Go Away, Hillary.  Other than earning her law degree, name one thing that Hillary Clinton has accomplished on her own.  Her accomplishments — slim as they are — have been achieved on the coattails of either Bill Clinton or Barack Obama.  Had she not been the First Lady, would anyone have ever heard of her in the context of high power political posts?  The short answer is no.  She had traded on her celebrity and name recognition to become a Senator from New York and then, after a failed bid to become the Democratic Party's candidate for President, accepted the position of Secretary of State.  Obama wanted to make sure she was "inside the tent" during his first term and, following that, her resignation has permitted her to now begin distancing herself from a man that many regard the worst President the nation has ever had.

Sometimes political poison is an offensive weapon:
Scott Brown riding an anti-Obama wave in N.H..  Voters have soured on President Obama.  National and statewide trends favor Republicans.  And here in his new home state, Scott Brown's truck is gaining speed.  Analysts and recent polls have found Brown closing in on US Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the Democratic incumbent he is vying to unseat, in a race that has become increasingly nasty and expensive.

'I'm not Barack Obama' is Democrats' election mantra.  This year, far more than the last midterm elections, Democratic candidates across the country are fleeing the incumbent president. [...] They are running for the hills. And while in campaigns past candidates have quietly distanced themselves from incumbent presidents (no joint appearances and no mentions in campaign ads), in 2014, some Democrats are brazenly making their marital discord known.

Desperate Democrat Breaks Out the Guns in New Ad, Runs From Obama.  [Kentucky Democratic Senate candidate Alison Lundergan] apparently wants you to believe she has nothing to do with the head of her party.

Obama's bungling alters midterms at 11th hour.  While Barack Obama was playing his 190th round of golf as president, chilling out on Martha's Vineyard for a 15-day vacation at a $12 million mansion, the U.S. electorate began to change — fast. [...] The president's spectacular incompetence in fixing the U.S. economy had been on full view for more than five years, but Americans were only now getting a glimpse of his disastrous foreign policy skills.

Obama's unpopularity poses serious midterm challenge for funnyman Franken.  Funnyman-turned-senator Al Franken is running a dead serious campaign for re-election, as some observers see him potentially vulnerable due to President Obama's low approval ratings in Minnesota and a vigorous GOP opponent with eyes on a sleeper upset.  Just how vulnerable is up for debate, and the race nevertheless is seen as favoring the Democrats.  But both sides now acknowledge that, with less than two months to go until Election Day, Minnesota's Senate contest between Franken and Mike McFadden, a longtime Minnesota businessman, is shaping up as a battle.

AP's Julie Pace: Dems 'Twisting Themselves All Up in Knots' to Avoid Obama.  On Tuesday's [9/2/2014] "New Day" on CNN, Associated Press White House correspondent Julie Pace pointed out that Democrats facing reelection are avoiding President Barack Obama as he has made trips around the country, sometime going to extraordinary lengths to do so.  That included Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Mary Burke, who was absent during Obama's visit to Milwaukee on Monday.

Democrats distancing themselves from President Obama as midterms approach.  President Obama spent Labor Day in Wisconsin, opening the campaign season in a battleground state with a tight race for governor — but the Democrat at the top of the ticket there was nowhere to be seen.  Mary Burke, who is battling to unseat Republican Gov. Scott Walker, decided to steer clear of Obama's visit to LaborFest, an annual salute to organized labor held in Milwaukee.  She became the latest in a parade of Democrats in tight races who have tried to create space between themselves and a President with weak poll numbers.

5 things to know about Obama's Labor Day visit to Wisconsin.  [#5] [Republican Gov. Scott Walker] changed plans with his family so he could greet Obama at General Mitchell International Airport. [...] Walker's Democratic challenger Mary Burke is meeting privately with Obama, but won't share the stage.

Politico: Obama to Limit Campaigning to 'States Where He's Still Popular'; Make That 'Less Unpopular'.  A Friday afternoon [8/29/2014] dispatch at the Politico from Carrie Budoff Brown and Jennifer Epstein tells us that "The White House is putting the finishing touches on a post-Labor Day schedule that will send the president to states where he's still popular."  The list of states where the Politico pair alleges that's the case is quite short:  "Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Illinois and California."  That's it.

Red-state Dems who will shun Obama.  Three incumbent Senate Democrats have one thing in common. They greatly benefit because they enjoy the distinct political asset of a "good name."  They are all from decidedly red states where President Obama is downright unpopular.  In fact, he lost these three states by landslide margins in 2008 and 2012.  One could reasonably make the argument, how did they get elected in the first place and how can they possibly be reelected?  Not one of these sitting senators will be found near the president if he comes into the state for any reason or function.

NC Senator Braces for Obama's Visit to Her State.  Join in the same camera shot as Obama, who lost North Carolina in 2012 and is unpopular in the state, and Sen. Kay Hagan could offer her Republican opponent fresh attack ad footage tying her to the president.  Stay away from Obama while he visits North Carolina on Tuesday, and Hagan risks alienating minority voters who generally support the president.

Top Senate Dems Running Away from Exec Amnesty.  Top Senate Democrats who once egged on President Barack Obama to go big on executive amnesty are now punting on the issue after numerous polls have shown that illegal immigration could cost Democrats control of the Senate.  Politico asked the offices of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Michael Bennet (D-CO), the chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign, about Obama's potential executive amnesty for millions more illegal immigrants.  They all either refused to answer or said the ball was in Obama's court.

Fellow Democrats keep their distance from lonely fundraiser in chief.  President Obama remains his party's biggest moneymaker, bringing in tens of thousands of dollars per person at 79 Democratic fundraisers during his second term, but analysts say he has run into the embarrassing situation that also bedeviled his predecessor:  vulnerable members of his own party keeping their distance.  Republicans have pounced on the fact that high-profile Democrats up for re-election, such as Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado, have opted not to appear with the president even when he is in their own backyard.

Vulnerables balk at Obama action.  Democratic senators facing tough reelections want to put the brakes on President Obama's plan to reform the nation's immigration enforcement system through executive action.  Two of the Senate's most vulnerable incumbents, Sens. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), say Obama should not act unilaterally to reduce deportations, arguing it's Congress's job to change the law.

Washington is desperate for Republicans to impeach Obama.  Quite unlike six years ago, President Barack Obama has become a liability for his fellow Democrats running for federal office.  Surveys have consistently shown that the GOP is well positioned to take back at least three of the six seats they need to regain control over the Senate and reduce Obama's final two years in office to a series of vetoes.  In another five seats, Republican candidates remain competitive. [...] The president is no longer a transformative figure.  He cannot bestride the world like the colossus which he was once portrayed.  Now, he must be cast as a victim in need of protection.

Top House Dem: Obama's Immigration Orders are More Important than Vulnerable Dems.  Representative Raul Grijalva (D., Ariz.) thinks that President Obama should pursue his immigration goals unilaterally, even if it hurts vulnerable Democrats in the 2014 midterms.  "That'll always be the case," the Congressional Hispanic Caucus co-chair told National Review Online when asked if Democrats were still nervous that the border crisis had turned Obama's expected orders into a political liability.

The Obama Albatross.  With less than four months to go until Election Day, Democrats increasingly have no confidence in the Obama White House's political instincts.  As a result, more and more Democratic candidates are avoiding the president when he comes to their neighborhood.  Senator Mark Udall famously avoided showing up with Obama at a fundraiser in the senator's honor in Colorado last week.  John Foust, the Democratic congressional candidate in a suburban Virginia district just outside Washington, D.C., snubbed the president this week by failing to show up for a presidential event in his area.

No Wendy Davis at Obama's appearances in Texas.  President Obama came to Texas but Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis did not show up. [...] We can conclude that all of those plans to turn Texas blue may have to wait a bit longer.

Obama gets ditched by Colorado Democrats.  Colorado Democrats ducking President Obama's speech here Wednesday morning [7/9/2014] are drawing hoots for their less-than-convincing excuses.  Sen. Mark Udall wasn't able to catch a flight back in time to join Mr. Obama at Cheesman Park. Gov. John Hickenlooper let it be known he was already slated to speak in Colorado Springs, while congressional candidate Andrew Romanoff reportedly had a scheduling conflict.  Not surprisingly, in a state where the president is not exactly a political asset, nobody is buying it.  "Embattled Colorado Democrats flee from Obama," said a Tuesday press release from the Colorado Republican Party.

Udall will not attend his fundraiser featuring Obama.  Senator Mark Udall will not return to Colorado as planned to be with President Barack Obama, who is helping to raise funds for the incumbent Democrat.  The Udall campaign said the Senator initially planned to appear with the president at a fundraising lunch in Denver on Wednesday [7/9/2014], but not on stage at an official White House speech in Cheesman Park earlier in the day.

No Borders, No Rules = Dictatorship!  Tens of thousands of illegals trampled over our borders.  Where is the President?  Out campaigning.  The head of the IRS knew about the missing or lost emails at the last hearing, yet said nothing!  Where is the President?  Out campaigning!  Five very nasty terrorists are released for one U.S. soldier.  Where is the president?  Out campaigning.  What's he campaigning for?  He already won.  We are stuck with him 2½ more years, maybe!  (The smell of impeachment is in the air.)  Many of the Democrats running for office don't want him involved.  Some have even asked him to stay away!

It's that bad: Even Al Franken won't be seen with Obama.  With Republicans in Washington thus far successfully fending off insurgent tea party challengers in competitive races, odds makers are now indicating that the GOP has a better than even chance of retaking the upper chamber of Congress in November.  President Barack Obama's sinking job approval rating is not helping boost Democrats' chances.  Speaking anonymously to The Hill, one Democratic Senator said Obama's "unpopularity" is troubling.  "It's a tense time," the source said.

Obama Visits Minnesota, Minnesota's Dem Senators Avoid Him Like the Plague.  You know things are bad when the Clown of the Senate whose whole ID is that he's leftier than left doesn't want to be seen with you. [...] It's estimated that 140,000 people in Minnesota would lose their health insurance policies because of ObamaCare.  ObamaCare's approval rating isn't doing too well there and it will be easier for [Senator Al] Franken if he isn't seen with the Obama of ObamaCare.

Obama's policies may doom Dems.  The president is backing his party into a corner.  The health-care rollout has cast a permanent shadow on the 2014 election.  If Democrats in competitive races try to separate themselves from it, they will look weak and vascillatory.  Even worse, they may get liberal donors angry.  Those same Democrats are going to have to explain their views on unfolding administration scandals like the supposedly missing and destroyed IRS emails that would tell the story of how conservative groups came to be targeted for their views.

Hillary Clinton Wants Bill to Lift Her Up — but Obama Will Drag Her Down.  [Scroll down]  What is becoming clearer by the day is that Clinton's charm is limited, at a time when Barack Obama's unpopularity may also rub off on her — and that's a problem.  Elections coming when the incumbent has maxed out on two terms are as much about the outgoing president as they are about the candidates.

Hillary Clinton distances herself from Barack Obama on Syria.  Mrs Clinton's comments will likely be used as ammunition by the White House's foreign policy critics but also provide political distance from Mr Obama if — as widely expected — she runs for president in 2016.

5 Reasons Hillary Won't Run.  4) Obama is leaving a mess.  President Obama's second term is complicating matters significantly for Hillary.  His foreign policy, which Clinton helped direct for four years — is adrift.  The situation has unraveled dangerously in Syria and now Iraq.  The infamous "reset" with Russia is a joke. [...] It's hard to see how any of these dynamics change for the better in the next two years — and they may get worse.  Hillary will not want to be seen as running for Obama's third term, yet she won't be able to distance herself too far from his record.  That will be a tough needle to thread politically.

Rat Deserts Sinking Ship.  [R]ecognizing that Obama's foreign policy has been a disaster, Hillary Clinton and her enablers in the press have already begun to try to distance her from the Obama administration, and her own tenure as Secretary of State.

Obama Is Sabotaging Democratic Senate Hopes.  The president reportedly has told his close allies that losing the Senate would be "unbearable," but his administration is doing everything possible to make things difficult for his party's most vulnerable senators.  On energy issues alone, the administration's decisions to impose new Environmental Protection Agency regulations on coal-fired plants and indefinitely delay a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline could help burnish his long-term environmental legacy, but at the expense of losing complete control of Congress.

The awful truth about Obama beginning to dawn on his allies.  It's finally happening!  Libs are starting to realize that the manufactured image of Barack Obama as a brilliant, capable executive is hooey, and that they have bought into an incompetent who threatens to sink them.  Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post doesn't quite put it in those terms, of course, but you don't have to read between the lines too closely to come up with that interpretation of his piece entitled, "Americans are starting to doubt President Obama is a good boss."

The Failed Presidency of Barack Obama.  John Dickerson has this comparison:  "Imagine being a short-order cook in an earthquake.  Every time you try to flip a burger or try to plate a fried egg, the freezer door flies open or the gas line gets knocked out.  That's what it's like to be a Democrat running for the Senate this year.  When you're trying to keep voters focused on the local race, a national issue intrudes."  And not in a good way.

Democrats turning on Obama in (semi) private.  This is going to get very tricky for Democrats, since their black voter base, which accounts for roughly a quarter of their national vote, remains loyal to Obama.  They may well see Democrats as stabbing the First Black President in the back if they criticize him too loudly.  But with Obama dragging down the party with the rest of the electorate, failure to distance themselves also has a great cost.

Hillary's big economy speech forgets about Obamanomics.  [Scroll down] And this is the inherent vulnerability of a potential presidential run:  All the long-term problems she'll mention haven't really gotten any better under the current Democratic president.  So, to use Bob Dole's 1996 phrase, she needs to be a "bridge to the past," to the bubbly, booming 1990s.

In Arkansas, Obama is a Four-letter Word Hampering Democrats.  Waving scissors like a conductor, [Jerry] Hood declares, "Folks around here are over that President Obama."  Jerry's Barber Shop is one the few places left in America where liberals and conservatives can be found together, laughing together, and talking politics. [...] Obama is a drag on the Democratic ticket in November, including a race that could determine control of the Senate.

Forget Benghazi.  Clinton's Real Problem Is Obama Fatigue.  The latest investigation into the Benghazi attack reminds us that the issue isn't going away any time soon.  Pundits are already speculating about potential damage to Hillary Clinton's presidential prospects, but don't believe the hype:  Scandals rarely matter much in presidential election campaigns.  A far more significant threat to her potential candidacy is Americans' desire for new leadership after eight years of the Obama administration.  A Pew Research Center/USA Today poll found this week that 65 percent of Americans would "like to see a president who offers different policies and programs."  Only 30 percent said they wanted ones "similar to those of the Obama administration."

Joe Manchin: No Obama campaigning for me.  Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) may not be up for reelection in 2014, but he sure knows that he wouldn't campaign with President Barack Obama if he were.  Appearing on "Morning Joe" on Monday [5/5/2014], the West Virginia senator flatly said "no" when asked if he would appear with the president at campaign rallies in his home state if he were in a race this year.

Declaring the Obamacare Debate Over Won't Save Democrats.  Apart from gutting America's military, our standing in the world, our fiscal stability, the economy, the office of the presidency, conventional energy sources, the free market and religious liberty, Obama has little to boast about other than Obamacare, so let him go for it.  Yes, let him gloat, because the more he bloviates in defense of the indefensible — the more he spins the unspinnable — the more damage he'll do to the cause he's trying to promote:  the election of Democratic congressmen in November.

Landrieu faces her toughest political storm to stay in Senate.  Louisiana Democrat Sen. Mary Landrieu is in the middle of a storm.  She is beset by well-funded forces on the right who sense the Gulf Coast Democrat's vulnerability in trying to defend a Senate seat in a red state.  On the left, she is trying to avoid being pulled down by the undertow of a president whose decline in approval ratings and controversial health care reform law might not play well with her state's conservative sensibilities.

Obama's Numbers Worse News For Democrats.  Bad as Obama's poll numbers are, they bode worse for Congressional Democrats.  Obama is being buoyed by continued strong support from Democrat voters.  The problem for Congressional Democrats is that November's election outcome will not be determined in Democrat strongholds.

Ted Cruz: Senate Democrats 'demanded Kathleen Sebelius' head'.  Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz explained why the Obama administration chose to resign Kathleen Sebelius from her post as HHS Secretary, claiming that Senate Democrats in electoral trouble this November "demanded Kathleen Sebelius' head."  Cruz spoke with Fox News' Gregg Jarrett on Friday about the resignation of Obamacare's top administrator, with the senator pointing out the politics behind Sebelius' departure.  "I think this resignation is the latest indication of what a disaster Obamcare has been," he asserted.  "I think Kathleen Sebelius should've resigned a long time ago.  And the reason we're seeing her resign now is because Senate Democrats are scared."

Kathleen Sebelius's Resignation Hands Republicans A Golden Opportunity.  This surprise resignation presents Republicans with an unexpected opportunity to refocus the conversation on Obamacare's negatives, offers a chance to force vulnerable Senate Democrats to take a hard vote on Obamacare six months before the midterms, and serves to disrupt what had been a positive few days of media spin for the health care law into another conversation about its many failings.

Abbott Seeks Photo of Davis With Obama.  "Despite stating unequivocally just last month that she would not avoid having her photo taken with President Obama, this week Sen. Davis did just that," the Abbott campaign said.  "Instead, she met with the President behind closed doors and did not allow any press coverage.  We are hoping that a White House that claims an 'unprecedented' commitment to transparency will hold itself to a higher standard than Sen. Davis apparently does."

Those who have no chance of being elected are immune from Obama's political poison.
Obama meets with Texas gubernatorial hopeful Wendy Davis.  President Obama met privately Thursday with Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis, the Democratic nominee for governor, amid accusations by her GOP opponent that she's afraid to be seen in public with the president.  A White House aide said Mr. Obama "visited briefly" with Ms. Davis following his remarks at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin to mark the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act.  The meeting took place after reporters traveling with Mr. Obama had been moved into vans, so they didn't witness the meeting.

Obama is politically toxic everywhere but Hawaii.
President Obama just endorsed Brian Schatz in Hawaii. Why that's a big deal.  Until now, Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-Hawaii) sported the most notable endorsement in the race:  That of late senator Daniel Inouye (D), whose dying wish was for her to succeed him.  But if there's one endorsement that could carry as much or more weight in what promises to be a contentious campaign, it's Obama's.  The broad unpopularity that has has turned Obama into a political albatross in many states does not extend to Hawaii, where he grew up and enjoys iconic status.

Obama's Bogus Political Science Lesson.  Barack Obama famously declared, "I'll tell you right now that I'm... a better political director than my political director."  He may be right, but you couldn't tell from his recent analysis of the upcoming midterm election.  Obama claimed that Americans agree with Democrats on every issue, but that Washington politics have "become so toxic" that they aren't voting. [...] The president is either delusional or the most shameless phony ever to occupy the White House.

Endangered Democrats racing to the exits.  With his popularity tanking, Mr. Obama holds tight to his left-wing base.  The coveted independents, who are often the margin of victory or defeat, have deserted him.  Candidates who might campaign with the president remember what happened to Charlie Crist in Florida four years ago.  He was doing all right in a race for the U.S. Senate until he was photographed hugging Mr. Obama.  He lost.  This year he's running for governor, and he still says he loves the president.  He's not doing so well this year, either.

The Democrats' Obama trap.  Thanks to Obamacare, Democrats just lost a special election in a Florida House district that President Obama won in 2012.  So what do you think vulnerable Democrats in states and districts Obama lost in 2012 are thinking today?  Answer:  Run away!  The problem is Democrats can't run from Obama or Obamacare.  Yes, the president is electoral kryptonite in 2014.  But Democrats are caught in the Obama trap — unable to either embrace or repudiate their unpopular president and his unpopular health law.

Barack Obama, Political Wrecking Ball.  By now it's settled on most people, including Democrats, that the loss of Alex Sink to David Jolly in Florida's 13th Congressional District was, in the words of the New York Times, "devastating" to Democrats. [...] But there's another, broader point worth making, I think.  It is that Barack Obama, who was the embodiment of liberal hopes and dreams, is turning out to be a one-man political wrecking ball when it comes to his party — and to liberalism more broadly.

Both Obamacare and Obama himself are political poison.
Democrats: Obama Becoming 'Poisonous' to Midterm Candidates.  A Democratic lawmaker told the New York Times that President Barack Obama is becoming "poisonous" to Democratic candidates who are facing an uphill battle in the Nov. 4 midterm elections.  Driving Democratic fears are Obama's low approval ratings and the unpopularity of Obamacare.  The latest Gallup poll finds that Obama's approval rating now stands at just 39%.  The same poll shows that 55% of Americans now disapprove of the job Obama is doing as president.  And according to the RealClearPolitics average of polls, just 38% of Americans support Obamacare.

Dems Panicked about 2014.  There is growing panic among Democrats in Congress about the 2014 elections, and it is based on numerous factors that give them serious anxiety. [...] The most powerful depressant for the Democrats may be Obama's poll numbers, which are down to 41%. Since World War II, a number lower than 50% spells disaster for the president's party in mid-term elections.

Obama adviser Pfeiffer says president isn't a midterm liability.  A CNN Poll of Polls from last week, averaging four national surveys that measure the President's approval rating, said just 44% of Americans approve of the job Obama's doing in the White House.  But Dan Pfeiffer, senior adviser to the President, said despite those numbers, many Democratic candidates will still rely on help from Obama.

New Poll Shows Obama Hits Record Low, Is Liability for Dems in Midterms.  [Scroll down]  Perhaps more worrisome, 48% of respondents said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate supportive of Obama, while only 26% said they would be more likely, and 33% of respondents said their midterm vote would signal opposition to Obama, compared to 24% who meant it as support.  NBC News points out that some of the decline in Obama's numbers came from Democrats, 20% of whom now disapprove of his job performance.

Sen. McCaskill: I Wouldn't Invite Obama to Campaign With Me.  Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) told Morning Joe Tuesday morning [2/11/2014] that she probably wouldn't invite President Barack Obama to campaign with her if she were running in a state where his approval rating is underwater.

From Messiah to Leper in Six Short Years.  [Scroll down]  But there is no better indication of just how politically toxic Obama has become than the rumblings that came out of last week's meeting between the president and Senate Democrats.  As Politico reports, the White House has agreed to stay out of most of the key races that will decide whether Democrats retain control of the Senate this year.

To distance themselves from Obama, 2016 Democrats will move to the left.  The 2016 Democratic presidential field is likely to run to the left of President Obama, partly because candidates will try to distance themselves from his political baggage while jockeying for an increasingly liberal base of voters, analysts predict.

Source: Obama offers to stay away from some Senate races.  President Barack Obama has told Senate Democrats that he's willing to stay away from election battles where his presence would not be helpful, a Democratic source said — an apparent nod to his poll numbers.

West Virginia Senate race 2014: Natalie Tennant seeks distance from Obama, coal policy.  West Virginia Democratic Secretary of State Natalie Tennant announced her candidacy for Senate Tuesday [9/17/2013] and wasted no time distancing herself from President Barack Obama on the all-important issue of coal.  Her two-day announcement tour, with stops in five cities, comes the same week that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to roll out more stringent emission rules for new power plants.

Obama no longer 'cash cow' among fund-raisers for Democrats: source.  Obama is hosting a fund-raiser at the tony Waldorf Astoria Hotel on Tuesday to raise cash for the Democratic National Committee.  Donors paying $5,000 will receive refreshments and an opportunity for their families to take a picture with the President.  But a similar Waldorf fund-raiser in 2011 — just as Obama was gearing up for his reelection bid — required donors to pony up $10,000 for a photo op.  And that price was only for individuals, not for the entire family.

Buyer's Remorse.  The nation's intellectual elites made a big vanity purchase in 2008 and the damage from that purchase cannot wholly be undone. [...] That collective purchase is going to leave a mark.  The payment's due.  David Leonhardt of the New York Times fears that "teenagers today may grow up conservative" because of their experience with Obama, a world where the synonym for poverty, unemployment, war and stagnation is "liberal".

Crowds walk out during Obama's speech on the campaign trail in Maryland.  A rare appearance on the campaign trail by President Obama on Sunday night [10/19/2014] was marred by a steady stream of crowd members leaving early and even a yelling heckler.  The president had shown up at the Democratic rally in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, near Washington, to support Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown, who is running for governor.

What if Obama appeared at a Democratic campaign rally and people left?  What if the president of the United States came to speak at your campaign rally and no one cared?  In fact, a lot of his party loyalists walked out as soon as the nation's chief executive stepped to the podium.  That's just what happened to the one-time golden-tongued Barack Obama Sunday in Maryland when he joined Democrat gubernatorial candidate Anthony Brown.

Ouch!  Far be it from me to kick a man when he is down, but note that those who walked out on Obama were all — presumably — Democrats.  They didn't leave because they disagreed with the president, but rather because they were bored by him.

Crowd Leaves as Obama Tries to Rally.  As President Obama tried to rally Democrats in Maryland, the crowd began to leave.  "Remarks are open press, but one unusual thing that fellow veterans of campaign rallies confirm:  some in the crowd started leaving as soon as Obama started speaking and by the time he was about 10 minutes in, there was a traffic jam next to the pool's tables as folks tried to exit the gym," reports the White House pool reporter.

Obama makes rare campaign trail appearance, people leave early.  President Barack Obama made a rare appearance on the campaign trail on Sunday [10/19/2014] with a rally to support the Democratic candidate for governor in Maryland, but early departures of crowd members while he spoke underscored his continuing unpopularity.

Obama's Empathy Problem.  Can you walk out on the messiah?  Appearing at a campaign rally for gubernatorial candidate Anthony Brown in Maryland on Sunday, President Obama sought to capture the magic that had electrified audiences in 2008 and, to some considerable degree, even in 2012. [...] Maryland is an exception.  It's about as safe a Democratic state as you can find, and the president was welcomed.  The audience at the rally was largely African-American.  And yet, according to Reuters, "a steady stream of people walked out of the auditorium while he spoke ... and a heckler interrupted his remarks."

Obama, the pariah president.  They were fired up and ready to go home. [...] With about five minutes to go in his 25-minute speech, about the time Obama said, "I'm just telling you what you already know," people began to trickle out.  By the time he had finished, perhaps a few hundred had walked out on the president.  This exodus wasn't intended as a protest.  Long lines for shuttles taking attendees to remote parking sites induced participants to leave early so they could beat the rush.  But the overall effect was akin to what happens when baseball fans begins filtering out in the seventh inning because the home team is down by five runs.  And, in a way, that is what's going on in these midterm elections.

White House aides fear there will be thousands of empty seats at Obama's inauguration.  Crowds may have flocked to the National Mall to see President Obama make history in 2009, but the team behind the president's 2013 inauguration bash later this month are bracing themselves for a ton of empty seats.

Dems now giving away raffle tickets to low-turnout inauguration.  Team Obama has used raffles to induce supporters to begin donating by offering a chance to visit with the president, but now Democrats have dropped the donation requirement in an effort to build a list for the 2013 inauguration, which is expected to have low turnout.

Low-interest Obama inauguration leaves DC hotel rooms empty.  In the days before Barack Obama's first inauguration in 2009, Washington's hotels were not only sold out but had been sold out for weeks.  Rooms weren't available at any price.  On January 18, 2009, the Washington Post reported that "all but 400 or so of the District's 29,000 hotel rooms were booked."  Finding one of those 400 rooms was a daunting challenge — and even they were gone by Inauguration Day.  Now, as Obama prepares for his second inauguration amid lessened hope and enthusiasm for his presidency, it's easy to find a room.

A 'limitless' vision: Obama lays out liberal agenda for second term.  [Scroll down]  The crowd, estimated at up to 800,000, was less than half the size of Mr. Obama's first inauguration in 2009, when about 1.8 million people jammed the Mall to witness the historic occasion of the nation's first black president taking the oath of office.