Voters Are Listening

◼ Obama near record low approval rating, and so is everyone else. - John Hayward/Human Events

...These polls portray a landscape of disaffection with the current President. They’re waiting to hear bold and compelling talk about the alternatives. It’s time for the Republican presidential candidates to step up their game, and bring forth people who are ready to stand before that audience and speak with both reason and passion. Voters know we’re in deep trouble, and the same old cocktail of platitudes and bromides isn’t going to fix the problem. Note that Obama got absolutely no “bounce” whatsoever from his big “budget speech” at George Washington University. It looks like America retains a good number of voters who can tell the difference between nasty political rhetoric and a plan.

If there’s one thing the President’s cratering approval numbers tell us, it’s that people are tired of empty rhetoric, bitter class warfare, and vapid happy talk. They’ll return to a diet of such things in time, if they are not given something stronger and bolder to consider.

Update: An important additional point from reader Martin Hale is that even by the dismal standards for skewed mainstream media poll samples, this one's a whopper. The Washington Post / ABC poll included a mix of 32% who identified as Democrats, 22% Republican, 41% independent, and 4% who gave no response. That's an absurd 10% skew toward Democrats, which means the pollsters know the real numbers for Obama are even worse, and they do not want to report those numbers.