As I write this, President Obama’s approval rating as reported by Gallup sits an ambiguous 52% with 41% disapproving. No doubt the majority of the fall from his once unequivocally popular status is due to his willingness to take controversial and divisive issues head on. Another reason is the recent ineptitude of the Democratic Party who, despite their overwhelming majority, seems as if they will still have trouble passing a health care reform bill when congress reconvenes. During the recess, during which congressmen went to meet with their constituents, Obama playfully flirted with the idea that Health-Care reform could do without the public option (hardly…) only to invoke members of his own party within the House of Representatives to sign a petition that if there was no public option, they would refuse to sign the bill on principle. Then in the Senate, it looks unlikely that there will be enough support for the public option in the bill.

There are several things President Obama can do to raise his popularity rating once more (there are many other things that he needs to do that he will need political capital for). One would be slowing down. I highly doubt that the recent opposition to the health care bill is due to the health care bill itself, but instead caused by the speed in which it is trying to be pushed through. We are about to change a major portion of our economy and the people would like to know what is going on. Now, to be fair, some of this is due to grotesque lies spawned by the conservatives but Mr. Obama could do more to squash it, or, at the very least, limit its poisonous effects. But one must also consider that, in addition to the ineptitude stated above, the Democrats have not exactly been forth coming with a decent option. Instead, at the moment, three or four bills are wondering around the Senate floor, leaving them wide open to criticism. The Democrats need clarity above all.

Like it or love it, which I suppose would be solely determined by your political affiliation, when the Republicans want to pass something and they have the majority, for good or ill, they get it done. They have a set list of talking points, they all, at least generally, agree on the basic principles of what they are trying to do, and they then raid the political talk show circuit, etc. It seems at the moment the Democratic Party has grown too large because there are too many rival views. On one end of the spectrum we have the more liberal socialist democrats who want a Single Payer system and on the other you have the more conservative “Blue Dogs” who infamously held up the vote while they waited for a bill that was fiscally pragmatic. If the Democratic Party is not careful, like a star, it might collapse under its own weight.

In terms of clarity no one, as of yet, can touch the President, which is why his upcoming speech to a joint session of congress should (read: must) be exceptionally powerful. Within one speech he must align the more liberal, moderate, and conservative factions of his party. As for the Republicans and any hope of bipartisanship? That pipe dream flew away quite some time ago. At the same time he will have to clear the numerous misconceptions about the bill such as the idea that it will provide health care to illegal aliens or that it will fund abortions (two especially sticky points for the moderate) as well as reaffirm his commitment to only a sign a health care reform bill that will be paid for.

There is however, something else that can be done, but which Mr. Obama has little, if any control over. The large block of especially excitable voters that put him into office has been conspicuously quiet, even those who support his efforts. Where have they gone?

It seems that these people have forgotten a key component of what shall hopefully be our president’s success: Mr. Obama requires constant support from his base, the same enthusiasm that helped launch him from a low-key Senator from Illinois to the President of the United States. The town halls have been overrun by a minority fringe of the right wing who thinks our President wishes to set up death panels and who make frequent references to Hitler. There is no room in this debate for those as passionate for the pro-Health Care reform cause?

The large and boisterous crowds must return for the push that most likely will define Obama’s presidency, and something that will go down in the history of the United States. The reformist progressives who really believed in that small yet powerful word “change” must not let their voices be drowned out by the voices on the fringe. Obama is a mighty voice in and of himself. But at the end of the day, he still is but one man.

The large and boisterous crowds (that supported President Obama’s run for office) must return for the
push that most likely will define Obama’s presidency, and something that will go down
in the history of the United States.