ConservativeHome's The Republican

Ten records Obama has set on his watch

Ryan Streeter
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The graphic in Michael Boskin’s Wall Street Journal op-ed today is worth dwelling on:

A few observations:

• It’s probably time to drop the World War II phrases and compare the present to periods of time when we weren’t coming out of a war that had a defined end. The budget and deficit, etc., are really worse than since before the war – or maybe ever.
• The lower homeownership rate probably doesn’t belong in there. Yes, it’s a disquieting data point on its own, but considering that we had too many people buying homes who, frankly, shouldn’t have done so means the downward adjustment may actually be a good thing.
• That said, just about everything else hangs around Obama’s neck. His policies, not the recession he inherited, are directly implicated.
• The final two points are more troubling than most people think. Together, they paint a picture of America’s growing inequality and class divide: between makers and takers, as Paul Ryan likes to say.

Want to monitor Obama's poor job performance easily on the go? There's an app for that!

Natalie Gonnella
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With a soaring deficit, tanking approval ratings, and an unemployment level holding strong at 9%, it's been a pretty daunting task to keep up with the latest numbers attached to President Obama's economic failures. But now, thanks to Jeremy Ross, there's an app for that!

Billed as a countdown "to either Barack Obama's second inauguration or his final days as President of the United States," at barely a month old the 'Obama Clock' currently tops the list of reference app's available for purchase.

Conveniently compiling key metrics on your smart phone, the app specifically monitors:

• Approval Rating
• Public Debt
• Unemployment Level
• Gasoline Cost Per Gallon
• Housing Price Index

And considering the dismal economic realities currenly facing Americans, liberals are all but happy with the product's recent release. According to the The Daily Caller's Neil Munro:

Liberals don’t like the app because it shows Obama’s numbers trending down, said Jeremy Ross, even though his app just publishes publicly available data. The app can also be used to display the same stats on future GOP presidents.

Ross, a California aerospace engineer, cut his sleep time down to 5 hours per day to develop the app, which users rate at 4.5 out of 5 stars.

“Most of my friends are very left and strongly discouraged me from starting this app,” he said. “My best friend hates this app.” Ross added that his own mother, also politically liberal, isn’t happy about it.

At $0.99 per download, further information on the 'Obama Clock' app is available to view here.

And the bad news just keeps building for President Obama as support for the health care law hits an all time low

Natalie Gonnella
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Despite a family vacation in Massachusetts and a whirlwind tour of the Midwest it's been a pretty rough month for President Obama. On top of tanking approval numbers, an unprecedented credit downgrade, and consumer confidence at a two year low, according to the latest opinion update from The Kaiser Family Foundation, just 39% of Americans hold a favorable opinion of the Affordable Care Act, the lowest number ever reported in the law's 18 month history:

As GOP governors reluctantly weigh their options on upcoming Obamacare grants, and with 57% of Americans pushing for repeal (the highest level in recent months), the full analysis from The Kaiser Foundations latest tracking poll is available to view here.

The most detested industry in America - the federal government

Natalie Gonnella
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With plunging consumer confidence and unemployment resting comfortably around 9%, it's no surprise that Americans are more than a little frustrated with the federal government lately.

And with just 17% of voters holding a positive perception of Washington's recent performance, according to Gallup's 2011 industry approval poll (surveying Americans' views across 25 business sectors), the federal government officially takes the title this year for the most negatively viewed industry in America.  

Displacing the oil and gas industry for the lowest position on the list, overall, Gallup notes that:

The images of the federal government and the real estate industry have dropped the most over the past decade. The percentage of Americans rating the government positively has declined 24 points since 2003, and the real estate industry's positive ratings have fallen 23 points since 2001. Other sectors with double-digit drops include the banking sector, education, accounting, and healthcare.

The full analysis from Gallup's 2011 industry survey is available to view here.

One in four Democrats wants Obama out

Natalie Gonnella
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Governor Rick Perry may hold the lead among Republicans, but when it comes to presidential preferences on the other side of the political aisle, a growing number of liberal-leaning voters say they want Obama out.

In the same CNN/ORC poll analysis confirming Perry's new found status as the GOP front runner, 27% of Democrats said they would like to see their party nominate a 2012 candidate other than Barack Obama.

While survey results from earlier this year placed Obama in a stronger position among, despite the growing disapproval among Democratic voters it remains highly unlikely that the President will face be challenged for his party's nomination.  But, as Byron York points out in the Washington Examiner:

The new poll is still a matter of concern to Democrats, because it is yet another indication that there is significant disillusionment with the president within his own party.  Whether those disaffected Democrats will come around to supporting Obama next year is an open question -- and perhaps the most worrying of the president's re-election bid.

Sticking up for states' rights: Majority of voters believe governors should have the right to opt out of federal programs

Natalie Gonnella
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As GOP governors weighs their options on what to do about Obamacare funds, a new opinion survey shows that when it comes to states' rights, a majority of voters side with the states.

According to the latest telephone poll from Rasmussen Reports, 54% of Americans believe that states should have the right to opt out of federal programs. And on initiatives imposed without federal compensation, support for states’ rights soars even higher, with nearly two-thirds of voters insisting that states should be able to ignore the mandates. With this in mind, unsurprisingly, when it comes to the Affordable Care Act:

Fifty-four percent (54%) think states should have the right to opt out of the new national health care law or any portion of it that they disagree with, [while] fifty-six percent (56%) of voters say letting states compete to determine the most effective standards and guidelines would do more to reduce health care costs than having the federal government calling the shots. Most voters also continue to favorrepeal of the health care law as they have every week but one since its passage by Congress in March 2010.

As the debate continues to escalate over the constitutionality of Obamacare, the full analysis from Rasmussen's latest poll is available to view here.

Obama scores a hat trick: CBO projects the third straight $1 trillion deficit under the current administration

Natalie Gonnella
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As if a credit downgrade and an unemployment rate of 9% weren't enough, the dismal economic news just keeps building this month for American voters.

According to today's budget update from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the federal government is on target to run another $1.3 trillion deficit in fiscal year 2011, easily erasing the $917 billion in savings secured in the recently signed Budget Control Act.

According to the Washington Times:

The deficit marks the third-largest shortfall in history, and the third straight $1 trillion deficit under President Obama, though next year’s deficit is projected to dip just under that mark, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Still, over the next decade, the federal government will rack up nearly $6 trillion in new deficits, the CBO said — far outstripping the $1.5 trillion in future savings the new deficit super committee is charged with recommending to Congress.

And the nonpartisan agency now projects that unemployment will remain higher than average for years, including a rate of 8.5 percent in the final quarter of 2012, just as Mr. Obama and Congress go back to face voters.

With a $1 trillion deficit hat trick and with 14 million Americans currently out of work, it will be quite interesting to hear what President Obama has to say in September when he finally offers his 'highly touted' jobs plan to the American public.

Obama hits another approval low

Natalie Gonnella
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Although he's on vacation, the bad news just keeps coming this week for President Obama's approval numbers.

On top of soaring consumer pessimism, a dismal national debt update, and support for his economic record at barely 26%, according to Rasmussen Reports' Daily Tracking poll, Obama's approval index rating just hit the lowest point of his presidency:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 19% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-five percent (45%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -26 (see trends).  

This is the lowest Approval Index rating yet measured for President Obama. The previous low was -24 reached yesterday and also in September 2010. Additionally, the level of Strong Approval matches the lowest yet recorded.

The full analysis from Rasmussen's latest presidential tracking poll is available to view here.

How do you spend $3 million a minute? Ask President Obama

Natalie Gonnella
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The President may be vacationing with his family In Massachusetts this week, but that doesn't mean the country's debt problem has taken it easy by any measure.

As the Obama's enjoy all that Martha' Vineyard has to offer, according to the latest calculations using updated Treasury Department figures (c/o CBS's Matt Knoller), the national debt now stands at $14,639,000,000,000 (and counting).

And while President George W. Bush saw an increase of $4.9 trillion during his time in office (a fact President Obama likes to regularly highlight as an excuse for the country's current economic concerns), as Andrew Malcolm points out today in the LA Times, it took Bush 2,648 days and two terms to reach that total.  President Obama is enroute to easily surpass that amount well before the 2012 election.

With a total increase of $4,247,000,000,000 in just 945 days in office, the current administration officially earns the award for the fastest debt increase under any president in history.

And as RedState contributor Daniel Horowitz noted on Twitter, at a rate of about $3 million per minute "it took just 37 hours for the Treasury to eat up the $6.67 billion in savings from [the] debt deal." A little more than bad luck considering the Budget Control Act was signed barely three weeks ago. 

Forget speeches, we need solutions

Natalie Gonnella
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President Obama maybe touting his upcoming jobs speech while enjoying his $1.1 million midwest bus tour, but with the country's economic outlook showing little signs of improvement, like voters across the country, Republican leaders remain more than a little annoyed.

As unemployment creeps back up to 9% this month, here's a look at what House Speaker John Boehner had to say about the President's latest announcement:

In the third year of his term, Americans are still asking President Obama, ‘Where are the Jobs?’ That’s why Republicans, in contrast to the Democrats who run the White House and Senate, have made creating a better environment for job creation our number one focus.  From our Path to Prosperity budget to our Plan for America’s Job Creators – which was built on our Pledge to America – House Republicans have laid out a clear, consistent jobs agenda, and acted on it.  The House has passed legislation to remove barriers to private-sector job creation, ease job-destroying regulations, expand American energy production, and significantly reduce our unsustainable debt burden. The House has led, but unfortunately we cannot act alone. Too many House-passed jobs bills remain stalled in the Democratic-controlled Senate, and we continue to urge our colleagues in the Senate to act.

To get our economy moving, what the American people need from the President is leadership and serious solutions that reflect a true change in his approach to our economy and the role of government. We welcome him to our ongoing efforts to help create jobs, and look forward to seeing a detailed plan next month. It is my hope the President will offer specific proposals that depart from his previous policies and allow us to find common ground and work together to put Americans back to work.  In the meantime, Republicans will continue to advance solutions that will reduce economic uncertainty and create a better environment for private-sector job creation.