Have Americans finally woken up and smelled the coffee?

[IDrinkaRum]

52% compared wtih 36% of the American people say America is headed in the wrong direction - 9% say conditions are mixed and 3% are undecided.

[BroomJockey]

Sixty-five percent disapprove of the job Congress is doing compared to 24 percent who approve with 11 percent undecided. Fifty-six percent have a very or somewhat positive view of Obama (this is a different metric than job approval) while 33 percent are in the negative camp. Americans see the Democratic Party positively by a 42 percent to 36 percent margin with 20 percent declaring themselves neutral, while the Republican Party is regarded negatively by 46 percent to 25 percent with 27 percent being neutral. Fourteen percent see the Democrats "very positively" while only 6 say the same about the GOP.

65% don't like congress... then why do people keep electing them? GOP is overwhelmingly negative, but ... Argh. Politics in your country make me go crazy.

[protege]

65% don't like congress... then why do people keep electing them?

Because we have too many lazy idiots in this country. They can't be bothered to read up on the issues, and simply press the button for the current candidate. Then they turn around and complain about said candidate isn't doing their job, or that taxes go up

Of course, not all of us do that. In fact, quite a few people in Pennsylvania got upset over some things that our then-rep Rick Santorum said...and dealt with him. That is, we threw his ass out of office

[HYHYBT]

65% don't like congress... then why do people keep electing them?

Because most people who complain about Congress are complaining about it as a whole; usually they think their own representative and senators are the exception, and of course they can't do much about everyone else's.

(I'm the opposite: I think Congress is doing pretty well given the way it's formed and so forth, but it could only be improved by the removal of my representative.

[Rapscallion]

Of course, not all of us do that. In fact, quite a few people in Pennsylvania got upset over some things that our then-rep Rick Santorum said...and dealt with him. That is, we threw his ass out of office

Didn't just throw his ass out of office - he got the dubious honour of his name being used to define quite an odd concept. For those with strong constitutions, I suggest going to Google and trying, "define: santorum".

Rapscallion

[Greenday]

I feel like people are just going to use this to attack Obama when in reality, it's about congress. Congress is the real authority of America and we are the ones who elect them. The problem is you generally have to pick from Scum #1 and Scum #2.

[AdminAssistant]

Exactly, Obama can't single-handedly fix the economy or pass healthcare reform. It has to go through Congress. Actually, I've recently gained a little bit more respect at least for Sen. Reid for growing a pair and tacking the public option back onto the health care reform bill. It may cost him his Senate seat, but it's just so desperately needed....

But yeah, most people just can't be bothered to know what their Senators/Representatives are up to, or even who they are. It's much easier to lay the blame on the national figurehead.

[protege]

I feel like people are just going to use this to attack Obama when in reality, it's about congress.

It's already happening--many of the people attacking Obama...where the same ones who made him out to be the Messiah. I don't agree with him on most things, but I can see why some people are pissed. They bought into his promises, and are upset because Congress is delaying them. Misguided anger, in other words.

[Depot Denizen]

I think it's called "bad faith" or something similar. I knew Obama wasn't going to be able to fix everything. I voted for him because I felt he'd do a better job than McCain. I also voted for my Congressmen, the Vermont boys usually do a good job. I do believe that Health Care Reform was ill-timed, it was too soon to start lobbying for it. I think it's a good idea, overall, but I do feel that it could have waited a bit longer. That said, it's really business as usual.

Do I think the country is doing better? Yes. It may or may not have been impacted by Obama, but I think he took steps to help alleviate the immediate stress. The markets are improving, but it'll take time to see any real improvement in the job market. What should be done now is to devise legislation to prevent this from happening again. Banks are already making the same mistakes under the belief that big risks are justified. My personal opinion is that some of the high-rolling banks believe that the Fed will bail them out if they screwed up again.

I was initially against the bailout in the first place, but decided that it would be better to do bailouts and save some jobs than withold bailouts and lose even more jobs. That said, some companies have turned around and posted profits and have even started paying back the money lent to them. Ford happened to surprise me in a good way in this regard. The high-end banks, however...I'm still skeptical of their business practices and doubt they have learned any tangible lessons.

[Mr Slugger]

Same here. And it's not just and the national level it's at all levels. There's no one that can fix it all. They can promise it all, but they won't fix it all, and when they're inheriting someone elses problems sometimes you don't know what you're getting yourself into. But at the state level the people of this state voted Deval Patrick because he was a "smooth operator" talked about change, and all the great things he was going to do for this state (I didn't vote for him). As soon as he came into office went and bought a more expensive than normal car for himself, filled high paying jobs that hadn't been filled in years with his buddies, raised the sales tax, added sales tax to alcohol, wants to raise the alcohol tax as well, etc, etc. And then says the state is down on revenues. Jeeze I wonder why. He's got the lowest ratings of any governor ever in this state. And honestly I was concerned about Obama because he's a smooth operator as well. But I knew what McCain would do so I felt Obama would be a better pick if he did what he promised.

But then it's always a crap shoot because hell this state was promised alot from deval and we've got none of it so far. We could have had the same thing happen with obama

[smileyeagle1021]

I think I am one of the few people who has a legitimate reason to dislike Obama
I of course am speaking of his decision to make Utah's best governor in the last 20 years an ambassador and leave us with Utah's WORST governor in 20 years in his place.
And by worst governor, I mean we have a man who has point blank said that he will never sign anti-discrimination laws because he feels that not being able to fire homosexuals will be bad for business.

[HYHYBT]

Oh, you're from Utah! My condolences

[AdminAssistant]

I of course am speaking of his decision to make Utah's best governor in the last 20 years an ambassador and leave us with Utah's WORST governor in 20 years in his place.

I could say the same thing about him taking Gov. Sebelius to be the HHS Secretary. Granted, I think her replacement's okay, but she was awesome in standing up to the backwater conservatives of Western Kansas.

[AFPheonix]

Same here. And it's not just and the national level it's at all levels. There's no one that can fix it all. They can promise it all, but they won't fix it all, and when they're inheriting someone elses problems sometimes you don't know what you're getting yourself into. But at the state level the people of this state voted Deval Patrick because he was a "smooth operator" talked about change, and all the great things he was going to do for this state (I didn't vote for him). As soon as he came into office went and bought a more expensive than normal car for himself, filled high paying jobs that hadn't been filled in years with his buddies, raised the sales tax, added sales tax to alcohol, wants to raise the alcohol tax as well, etc, etc. And then says the state is down on revenues. Jeeze I wonder why. He's got the lowest ratings of any governor ever in this state. And honestly I was concerned about Obama because he's a smooth operator as well. But I knew what McCain would do so I felt Obama would be a better pick if he did what he promised.

But then it's always a crap shoot because hell this state was promised alot from deval and we've got none of it so far. We could have had the same thing happen with obama

That's just the problem. To really fix a lot of the problems we have, there would have to be a fundamental change at the very base of many institutions. Unfortunately for us common citizens, there is simply too much money opposed to getting that sort of thing handled. Obama won't ever be able to deliver on everything he promised or probably wanted, that's the bummer when you get an ideologue face to face with the realities of office and bureaucracy. He has done some good things and some not-so-good things and has left many other things undone as well. But as has been pointed out, he's far from the only player in this game so it is unfair to lay it all at his feet.

[Flyndaran]

Obama is a coward for not prosecuting the murderers and torturers of Gitmo, and Camp X-ray.
Nothing he can do now will erase that view.
If I were a citizen of another country, I would never trust the American government, because of that non-action.