It's hard to gain proper perspective on what Americans are thinking about President Barack Obama in general and his big-government policies in particular when living in the great Pacific Northwest. Here in the Portland metropolitan region, Obama fever persists and Bush-bashing bumper stickers haven't budged.
But the Libertarian Party is pushing news of a recent poll that shows political independents, at least, aren't sold on Obama's version of "change."
A press release from the nation's third-largest political party today says that independents reject Obama's "promises of prosperity through big government."
The release adds, "Despite a deep financial crisis and the election of a left-wing president, political independents still see 'big government' as a greater threat than 'big business' by an unchanged two-to-one margin."
The release quotes Danny Ferguson, Libertarian National Committee Communications Director, saying that political independents "still believe the same Big Government that Obama promises as our global salvation will be America's undoing," and adds, "Obama and the Republicans have us spiraling towards national bankruptcy."
The fuel for the Libertarian Party's fire is a Rasmussen Reports poll that shows 59 percent of politically independent Americans view big government as the greatest threat to the country, which is similar to the 60 percent of independents who said the same thing in 2006, before the financial crisis and before Obama's election.
Also in the study: Democrats in 2006 feared "big government" more than "big business" by a 55 percent to 32 percent margin. "Following in lockstep with Obama," the Libertarian Party writes, "they have flipped their views. Now, Democrats fear job creators more than government by a 52 percent to 32 percent margin."
As for Republicans, the Libertarian Party says, "Opposition to 'big government' grew among grassroots Republicans, though their party leadership doesn't seem to share that view, based on their 'alternative budget.' In 2006, Republicans feared 'big government' more than 'big business' by a 68 percent to 18 percent margin. That grew in 2009 to 80 percent to 10 percent."
Read more here.
On the state level, big government budget writing is still threatening job retention and job creation. Read a recent guest viewpoint in The (Eugene) Register-Guard from House Republican Leader Bruce Hanna.
In "Expanding government not solution," Hanna writes:
Finally David Broder's recent column, "Futile gestures or bold opportunity," is a must read.
Broder suggests that it was an exercise in futility for Obama to go through the national budget line by line and points out Obama's failure to embrace and push a bipartisan examination of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. He says failure to address these growing, problematic entitlement programs could become a missed opportunity for Obama and the nation.
Two proposals to examine changes to these programs, Broder reports, "have been stymied for two years principally by the adamant opposition of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
"So far, Obama has not challenged her, even though he knows as well as anyone that significant steps to avoid a succession of trillion-dollar annual deficits when we emerge from this recession clearly will require reform of entitlements and taxes."
How can we fit that on a bumper sticker?