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Convincing people their suffering is unusual

September 10, 2012 @ 2:36 pm (Updated: 3:05 pm - 9/10/12 )

To secure his re-election, President Obama must somehow convince the public that the economic condition of the nation at large is healthier than the situation for its individual citizens.
For years, the opposite contrast applied: most people liked their own circumstances better than the state of the nation. Americans rated their own neighborhoods as safe, their children’s schools as solid, their doctors as excellent, their family life as strong and their Congressmen as worthy of reelection even while they disapproved of the general situation with crime, education, medical care, the family and Congress as a whole. With only 30 percent telling pollsters they’re better off personally than four years ago, the Democrats must now convince people that they’re unusually unfortunate, not specially blessed, and worse off than the society – thereby challenging Americans’ instinctive optimism and gratitude about their own lives.

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Comments (31)


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  • Drool wrote...
    American Optimism...
    September 10, 2012 3:34 pm
    ...may well be why Obama is leading in the polls. Romney is preaching how bad everything is. Obama is not. The polls that are coming out seems to support Obama. Look at http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/ and it is pretty telling right now.
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  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    American Optimism... part 2
    September 10, 2012 6:07 pm
    Yeah - all the polls released yesterday show him up by a combined average of over 5% if I recall correctly. Which is quite a bounce. Particularly when compared to Romney's 'non-bounce' the week before. The polls are showing him ahead of Romney across the board now. Wait until we hear how 'tilted and biased' the poll takers are as the explanation of why this has happened... They always do that when they fall further behind.
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  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    Obama leading in the polls? Where?
    September 10, 2012 3:40 pm
    Romney is only reporting on how bad this ObamaEconomy is. And we don't need anyone to tell us Americans just how badly it sucks!

    The Dear Leader Obama trying to tell us how the economy is recovering. Doing great. How he has given the middle class 18 tax breaks. If he has done this then why are small businesses failing right and left?

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  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    Sorry It's me - you need to read more news today
    September 10, 2012 6:04 pm
    It's me - you need to read more news today. ALL the polls released yesterday show Obama increasing his lead to -as I recall- an average of over 5% ahead of Romney.
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  • Drool wrote...
    Here
    September 12, 2012 3:03 pm
    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/12/fox-news-poll-obama-has-lead-over-romney-in-post-convention-poll/#ixzz26IS7L3kq
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  • SeattleD wrote...
    Google "businesses sitting on cash" and see how poor businesses are
    September 10, 2012 6:40 pm
    Looks like the economic conditions for businesses are pretty dang good. But then they are collaborating with the Republicon elites like Mitt Adelkochquist,promising not to hire until after the election in trade for zeroed out tax bills, reduced minimum wage, destruction of unions, elimination of economic and environmental regulations, etc.
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  • ron prevost wrote...
    OKAY, "D". Googled it
    September 10, 2012 8:06 pm
    There IS no first page index story so listed. There IS a 'companies sitting on cash', but that's from NPR, so a little suspect. ..... But even at that, it prefaces that the economy may be bad but 'some' (such as Google, Apple, Cisco and Microsoft) DO have a lot of cash.

    So, just what IS your point, D ? Even in the depths of the depression of the 1930's, some companies made good money. Your 'logic' isn't making a lot of sense.

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  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    Funniest exchange of the morning, Prevost and D
    September 11, 2012 7:42 am
    So, stepping back a bit...

    When the topic is unemployment, the conservative talking point is frequently, "American corporations are sitting on oodles of cash. They're chomping at the bit to hire more people, and make more money, but they won't do that until Obama is out of office and replaced by a Republican!"

    When the topic is general business conditions throughout the country, suddenly those wads of cash all disappear and every business, large and small, is just barely keeping the wolf away from the door.

    It's worth a good laugh. Not the unemployment or the lackluster business conditions, but how the facts change instantly (and that apparently doesn't bother anybody) the second the topic changes.

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  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    Sorry It's me - you need to read more news today
    September 11, 2012 1:12 am
    Poser, like I have asked other Left wing Parrots, are these the same polls that have deliberately oversampled democrat voters by as much as 11 percent? Where that many voters who claimed to be Democrats were found after all this time is hard to believe!

    And since I don't listen to the news which is true, how big is this "Bounce" and how long will it last? A week at the most? And just how is that ObamaEconomy doing today? A week from now!

    Too bad Parrots! President Romney and vice President Ryan. Get used to it!

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  • SeattleD wrote...
    prevost
    September 11, 2012 6:19 am
    The businesses that are run by competent people are doing great. Business owners that fail to build their own business do so because they themselves are failures.
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  • logical open mind wrote...
    I bet Seattle D knows a ton about business!
    September 11, 2012 2:04 pm
    The business of selling dope.
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  • ron prevost wrote...
    But, D, our own US of A President told us that 'you didn't build it' - that its not possible to build a business without government help.
    September 11, 2012 2:50 pm
    So how could a failed business be the business owner's fault ?

    So, now you've got me all confused. If Bill Gates is sitting on cash until a Republican gets in, why did he donate so much TO Obama ?

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  • SeattleD wrote...
    Microsoft has been hiring lots of people
    September 11, 2012 3:18 pm
    So clearly they have not made a deal with the Republicon devil. On your other point clearly it is the Republitards stance that success is self-determined and failure is always someone else fault.
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  • ron prevost wrote...
    But, D, the Obama/progressive view is that -
    September 12, 2012 12:05 pm
    If you succeed, we helped you. .. But if you fail, it's on you.

    But either way, we tax you.

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  • Drool wrote...
    Suffering
    September 11, 2012 3:23 pm
    From Reuters:

    "The Dow industrials closed at the highest level in nearly five years on Tuesday in a lightly traded session before key decisions in Germany and the United States that could give markets a further boost."

    Am I better off than I was 4 years ago?

    Yep.

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  • ron prevost wrote...
    WOW, Droll . Isn't it great that with so many people out of work,
    September 12, 2012 4:59 am
    we all have out stock market investments to fall back on.

    meanwhile on Main Street...............

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  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    Am I better off than I was 4 years ago?
    September 12, 2012 10:21 am
    That stock market high was the norm under the Bush economy. SIX TRILLION dollars, 24 million jobs loss 8 point 1 percent unemployment and you say you are better off?

    Do you even work?

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  • Drool wrote...
    Yes...
    September 12, 2012 3:04 pm
    ....and I pay a significantly higher tax rate than Romney.
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  • halfshaft wrote...
    Stock market high was the norm under Bush......
    September 17, 2012 1:47 pm
    2008-2009 Recession On October 9, 2007, the Dow closed at 14,164.43, an all-time high. (It's me is right so far; Bush was President when this happened!) However, fourth quarter GDP growth was -1%, announcing the start of the recession.(It was later re-estimated at 2.9%) The Dow started declining gradually. After the failure of Bear Stearns in April 2008, and a negative GDP report in Q2 2008, the Dow dropped to 11,000. (Oops. Bush still President and market declined 20%) Many analysts felt that this 20% decline was the market bottom. However, on Monday, September 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy. On Wednesday, panicky bankers withdrew $144 billion from money market funds, nearly causing a collapse. In response, the Dow plummeted 13% in October. By November 20, 2008, it fell to 7,552.29, a new low. (Darn facts! Bush still President and the market has tanked!) This was not yet the true market bottom. The Dow climbed to 9,034.69 on January 2, 2009 before screeching down to 6,594.44 on March 5, 2009. (Granted, technically Obama was President, but it's hard to say that he could have affected the market much in 6 weeks) Between its peak and its bottom, the Dow dropped over 50% in just 17 months. On July 24, 2009, the Dow beat its January high, rising to 9,093.24 by close of day. Everything above, except my comments in brackets, is from: http://useconomy.about.com/od/stockmarketcomponents/a/Dow_History.htm
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  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    Obama's "BOUNCE" is already fading!
    September 12, 2012 10:28 am
    I gave it to the end of the week or till next Monday! Didn't even last a week.

    Left wing Parrots, what is left for your Dear Leader to hope for anymore bounces in the polls? Romney will and is overtaking the Dear Leader and is all downhill until President Romney's election or the Dear Leaders DE immaculation!

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  • Drool wrote...
    Here's Your Fading Bounce
    September 12, 2012 7:29 pm
    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/12/fox-news-poll-obama-has-lead-over-romney-in-post-convention-poll/

    Can't wait to see the Romney bounce after his brilliant foreign policy work today.

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  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    ...and I pay a significantly higher tax rate than Romney
    September 12, 2012 3:41 pm
    are you double and triple taxed, drool?
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  • Drool wrote...
    Yes
    September 12, 2012 7:24 pm
    I don't take my taxable (at earned rate) income and move it through the Caymans to turn it into cap gains with a shell corporation.
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