I’ve been interested to see the response to President Obama’s approval rating dipping below 50% and it made me wonder, what if the rest of the citizens of the world got a say in this rating…? So now I’m giving you that chance! If you’re not a citizen of the US, how do you think the President is handling things?
One things for sure, he’s doing a damn site better job than that last clown that was voted in twice!
The Polls below, just select Yes or No and then the Vote button.
Have at it!
[poll id=”2″]
Hi,
It’s really not as simple as yes/no. Of course he is a good person with good intentions, compared to the banal evil (?…sic?) of the last lot – but is he effective? Possibly ( following Lenin here…) it is better to have an inept evil bunch at the helm, as it is more effective in fomenting real change… Is Obama attempting to appease and ameliorate philosophies that have to be eviscerated to be got rid of ( e.g. Blackwater, private security services as front line providers in Haiti etc.)..? Certainly in terms of Copenhagen, Africa, the US economy, Israel?Palestine, Afghanistan… the only people likely to give him a strong approval rating are the Chinese and certain terror groups. The jury must still be out… oh, but lets give him a Nobel prize anyway. After all, the prize is just a product of the guilt of an armaments manufacturer, just as Obama is a product of the guilt of a militarist apocalyptic Christian culture. My two cents.
Nice 2 cents Jai. I realised as I was posting the poll that it’s hard to break down the validity of a presidency into a yes/no type poll; though having said that, that’s effectively what the approval rating poll is right?
I thought the Nobel prize was awarded fairly prematurely – though perhaps it was awarded as a reminder to Obama of the legacy he’s trying to fulfil. Not a bad way to try and hold someone to their grand schemes (using Alfred Nobel to do this is a bit whack I suppose).
After 39 legitimate voters (had to edit out a few votes that were cast from within the US – which incidentally was done via this little web app I posted a while back: http://blog.wrench.com.au/2008/12/13/google-maps-geo-location-by-ip-flex-example/) it looks like Obama’s approval rating is a rip roaring 72%! I’m sure he’d take those figures any day of the week 😉
Unfortunately ( see my post above) all that 72% proves is the level of media whitewash – and the lack of real interest that people have in international geo-politics. What Obama has created so far in Afghanistan (to give just one example) makes his presidency look like peacemaker posturing while continuing aggression as usual. For an alternative view of Obama’s actions thus far:on Copenhagen:
‘Using U.S. Senate opposition as an excuse, Obama’s negotiators systematically dampened any hopes for the binding accord that the global public had expected Copenhagen would produce. After being shamed by the pledges of other countries, Washington ultimately committed to a 17 percent voluntary cut of greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels. But other countries viewed Washington’s offer, which translated into an insignificant 4 percent reduction from 1990 levels, as a joke. …Washington’s diplomacy ensured that Copenhagen would be dead on arrival. It’s easy to imagine Beijing’s resentment at Obama’s push to engineer a PR triumph via a declaration with high-sounding rhetoric, laced with meaningless voluntary commitments and backed up by so little actual commitment.’
On Afghanistan:
Afghanistan: this war won’t work
Phyllis Bennis
CommonDreams.org
…Not that I’m recommending George Bush, or Republican Christian Armageddon wishes, as an alternative – but at lease there was a stupid honesty in their position. Less double-think.
@ Jai – whose the source for the first quote?
And just out of curiosity, who’d you vote for in the last election (assuming that is you’re a US citizen)?
I think that all the 72% (actually, correction it’s down to 71% now) proves is that 29 people voted yes, and 12 voted no. That’s the beauty of such a simple poll – it’s a very top down view of his presidency, something which describes the vibe more so than what’s actually been achieved. He’s got a few more years yet to get stuck in and achieve more of what’s on his agenda.
Hi Jason,
Not a U.S. citizen – despite being married to one, which perhaps glosses what I think of both the nation and its people… I have enjoyed defacing my ballot paper and hoping the ‘spoiled votes’ get a majority.
The source for the first quote is from ‘China: Prince of Denmark’ an article by Walden Bello on http://www.tni.org – a website I highly recommend for improving one’s understanding of our world. (If it is ours, that is…)
And of course, 29 v. 12 is meaningless statistically, even if they weren’t all Flex developers!
can you imagine if maccain won how america will be facing
Obama is doing fantastic job
no one i mean no one in united stat can handle the present situation like this man
charles