Eric Cantor - Less Talk and More Action needed from Obama

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor says he hopes President Barack Obama will avoid during a visit Friday to a House GOP retreat in Baltimore “the kind of rhetoric and lecturing that occurred in the State of the Union.”

Obama told Republicans in his address Wednesday night that “saying ‘no’ to everything may be good short-term politics, but it’s not leadership” and that they share in “the responsibility to govern.” Stepping up his own efforts at bipartisanship, he said he plans “monthly meetings with both Democratic and Republican leadership.”

Cantor, the No. 2 House GOP leader, said he “appreciated his offer” but said Obama has made calls for bipartisanship before.

“There are words and promises, and there is delivery,” Cantor, 46, said at his Capitol Hill office in an interview for a POLITICO video series,“Inside Obama’s Washington.” “There’s not been much action put behind those words over the last year. I’m hoping when he comes to our retreat that we’ll hear a different President Obama and, frankly, a willingness to say, ‘OK, I understand my agenda may not be what the majority of this country wants. Let’s work together.’” - Politico Story

Democrats Whining Over Supreme Court Decision

Senate Democrats are furious with Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito — and Alito’s silent State of the Union rebuke of the president is the least of their concerns.

Democrats say Alito crossed the line when he mouthed the words “not true” during President Barack Obama’s speech Wednesday night. But worse, they say, both Roberts and Alito misled them during their confirmation hearings when they represented themselves as jurists who would respect precedent.

“You bet they misled,” said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the assistant majority leader and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

At issue is the ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the campaign finance decision Obama was discussing Wednesday night when Alito mouthed his objections.

In last week’s 5-4 decision, a majority of the justices — including Roberts and Alito — ruled that the government cannot restrict corporations and labor unions from spending general funds on advertising to support or oppose specific candidates in federal elections. Some analysts predict that the decision will open the door to a flood of campaign advertising by corporations and unions leading up to Election Day — and that Republicans will be the primary beneficiaries.

The decision overruled a 1990 case that upheld restrictions on corporate spending as well as a 2003 ruling upholding a portion of the campaign finance law written by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) that dealt with regulations on labor union and corporate financing.

Supporters say that Alito, Roberts and the three other justices in the majority simply returned to the original meaning of the First Amendment — that the ruling was intended to uphold the right of free speech. - Politico Story

It is quite a shame that when the Supreme Court upholds the Constitution that they have to deal with the politics of the Left. Not only was the President out of line when he bashed them in a State of the Union address, but now Democrats are whining and crying foul.

Everyone is already painfully aware that Political Officials in Washington feel like they are above the law, but to whine and cry when you don't get your way?

ABC News Tries to Rebuild Credibility After Blowing Mass Senate Election

You know it’s a strange new world when Gary Langer, the director of polling at ABC, attacks a Democratic polling firm. By the way, the good folks at Public Policy Polling (PPP) took the attack in stride. The firm's Tom Jensen noted that “one of the most amusing things Langer and others in his cohort claim is that polls should not be judged by their accuracy.”

One might be tempted to blame the spat on the fact that Public Policy Polling found Fox News to be more trustworthy than ABC News. If that’s all it was, it could be written off as another episode of shooting the messenger like the effort that Rasmussen Reports recently endured.

But the real story has to do with the changing media landscape, most recently on display in the coverage of the Massachusetts special Senate race.

Rasmussen Reports is a new media outlet, digital from birth, and we informed our audience that this was a race worth watching two weeks before the stunning upset victory by Republican Scott Brown in an historically very Democratic state. Our first poll showed Brown within single digits and even closer among those most likely to vote. Our coverage was picked up by all sorts of new media sources and helped define the race for those in the Bay State. Looking back, The Politico’s Ben Smith wrote, “The overwhelming conventional wisdom in both parties … was that [Democrat] Martha Coakley was a lock. It's hard to recall a single poll changing the mood of a race quite that dramatically.”

ABC has an old-school media mentality and chose not to share the news of a close race with their audience. In fact those who rely on ABC News didn’t learn anything unusual was happening in Massachusetts until just four days before the election. By that time, Rasmussen Reports and PPP both showed the race to be a toss-up but trending toward Brown, and President Obama had decided to attend a campaign rally to help Coakley's floundering campaign. - Rasmussen Reports

Despite Speech Obama and Democrats Raise Debt in Last Ditch Effort

In a last gasp of their fading 60-vote majority, Senate Democrats on Thursday pushed through a record $1.9 trillion increase in the federal debt ceiling, all but assuring Congress won’t face the painful issue again until after November’s elections.

The House is poised to follow quickly next week, and the deal was sealed when Senate Democrats included a statutory pay-go amendment that has been a major priority for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Blue Dog fiscal moderates in her caucus.

Sen. Judd Gregg, the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, ridiculed the process as “Swiss cheese-go,” given the billions in tax and spending provisions still exempt from the deficit rules. And the New Hampshire Republican angrily accused Democrats of taking the debt issue “off the table” rather than learning from their defeat in last week’s Massachusetts special Senate election.

“The people of this country have a right to know whether or not this Congress is going to do something about controlling the rate of growth in the debt — before the next election,” Gregg said. “The American people don’t believe it ought to be off the table; that’s what Massachusetts was all about. They’re worried about this debt.”

Indeed, Thursday’s power play will be impossible for Democrats to duplicate once Republican Sen.-elect Scott Brown, the Massachusetts victor, takes his seat in early February. With time running out, the White House played a major role in bringing fiscal moderates together around the package. - Politico Story

Obama Fails to Re-establish himself

If the President was trying to re-establish himself and his goals it appears he failed drastically.

NBC is running a poll that shows only 41.1% thought he did just that. more than 52% thought it was a nothing new or not good at all.

See the poll

Wisconsin's Sen. Russ Feingold in Trouble in Wiscosin Election?

One more Democratic senator who has long been regarded as a safe prospect for reelection may be facing a challenging year in 2010.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in Wisconsin finds Republican Tommy Thompson edging incumbent Russ Feingold 47% to 43% in a hypothetical U.S. Senate match-up. Five percent (5%) like some other candidate, and four percent (4%) are undecided.

Any incumbent who attracts less than 50% support at this point in a campaign is considered potentially vulnerable.

Thompson, who served as governor of the state from 1987 to 2001 and as secretary of Health and Human Services in President George W. Bush’s first term, is being urged by Republicans to enter the race. However, it remains unclear if he will enter the race. Feingold is seeking a fourth six-year term in the Senate this November. - Rasmussen Reports

Obama Didn't Do Much to Bolster His Standing with Voters

During his State of the Union address tonight, President Obama touched on a number of topics that Rasmussen Reports has current polling data on measuring the attitudes of the American people.

In his speech, for example, the president called for taxing banks to repay bailouts. Most Americans like the general idea of a tax on large banks to help repay the bailout money. Voters think that only banks that received the bailout should pay the tax though, and 72% believe that other financial institutions like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should also pay the tax.

The president presented the $787-billion economic stimulus package as a success story. However, just 35% of voters believe the stimulus plan has helped the economy, while 31% believe it hurt. At this time, 39% are concerned the government will do too little to deal with the economy while 49% fear it will do too much.

Obama said the unpopular bailouts saved the economy. He’s right that they’re unpopular. By a two-to-one margin, voters still believe they were a bad idea. Voters are evenly divided as to whether they helped or hurt the economy in the short-term. However, voters overwhelmingly believe the bailouts are bad for the long-term health of the economy. - Rasmussen Reports

Fact Checking the President

(AP) EDITOR'S NOTE - An occasional look at assertions by government officials and how well they adhere to the facts.

President Barack Obama told Americans the bipartisan deficit commission he will appoint won't just be "one of those Washington gimmicks." Left unspoken in that assurance was the fact that the commission won't have any teeth.

Mr. Obama confronted some tough realities in his State of the Union speech Wednesday night, chief among them that Americans are continuing to lose their health insurance as Congress struggles to pass an overhaul.

Yet some of his ideas for moving ahead skirted the complex political circumstances standing in his way.

A look at some of Mr. Obama's claims and how they compare with the facts:

-

OBAMA: "Starting in 2011, we are prepared to freeze government spending for three years. Spending related to our national security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will not be affected. But all other discretionary government programs will. Like any cash-strapped family, we will work within a budget to invest in what we need and sacrifice what we don't."

THE FACTS: The anticipated savings from this proposal would amount to less than 1 percent of the deficit - and that's if the president can persuade Congress to go along.

Mr. Obama is a convert to the cause of broad spending freezes. In the presidential campaign, he criticized Republican opponent John McCain for suggesting one. "The problem with a spending freeze is you're using a hatchet where you need a scalpel," he said a month before the election. Now, Mr. Obama wants domestic spending held steady in most areas where the government can control year-to-year costs. The proposal is similar to McCain's. - CBS News Story

McCain Says No to Jobs Bill

Sen. John McCain said he wouldn't support President Barack Obama's push for a new jobs bill, saying it would just be a repeat of failed policy.

"It's a stimulus bill again. It's failed. They said when we passed the last stimulus bill that we'd have 8 percent unemployment. That was their commitment. It's 10 percent [now]. Most Americans don't believe that mortgaging our children's futures is the way to go about it, particularly with the kind of stimulus package that failed in the past," the Arizona Republican said on CBS' "The Early Show" Thursday.

Job creation was a major theme of President Obama's State of the Union address Wednesday. So was bridging the partisan divide between Democrats and Republicans, particularly on health care.
But McCain's balk at the jobs bill may show just how hard it will be to accomplish both of those goals.

On health care reform, McCain said Republicans would "of course" compromise, "but we've got to be brought in on the negotiations. We were not. Nor have we on any other issue."

"If there's true bipartisan negotiations, if they will bring us in on the takeoff, hopefully we can be in on the landing. But the facts are that they figured that had they had 60 votes at the beginning of this health care debate … and they decided they would ram it through.

McCain rattled of a list of Republican proposals that he hoped Democrats would consider in a new health care reform package. Among them: medical malpractice reform, the ability to go across state lines to get insurance policies, rewarding wellness and fitness, establishing risk pools for people with pre-existing conditions and encouraging health savings accounts. - CBS News Story

Obama stood and preached about the Republicans being the "party of no". What he didn't preach to was the fact that on every bill that the Republicans were the party of no was because the Democrats felt that they had the votes and certainly didn't need to work with Republicans. He forgot that there was no transparency in the negotiations. He forgot about the big money used to buy Democrats votes. He forgot about the public saying emphatically NO. He forgot that he promised bipartisanship and has been the most dividing President.

Obama is a great speaker. He can stand there and tell you what you want to hear with a straight face. He can BS with the best of them. What he doesn't have is the leadership to follow through and get things done.

Obama had a whole year with all the cards in his favor and still couldn't get it done. At one point in the speech he said you can't point fingers and blame. Yet every single day of his Presidency he has done nothing but blame someone else.

If Obama wants change, start with himself.

Ford Posts $2.7 Billion in Profit - Without Taxpayer Help

Ford Motor Co. made $2.7 billion in 2009, its first annual profit in four years.

The automaker on Thursday also forecast a full-year profit in 2010. Earlier it had only promised to be "solidly profitable" in 2011.

Ford benefited from cost-cutting, a $696 million profit in its credit arm and popular cars and trucks like the Ford Fusion midsize sedan and Ford Escape small sport utility vehicle. It gained market share in North and South America and Europe, despite the worst U.S. sales climate in 30 years.

"While we still face significant business environment challenges ahead, 2009 was a pivotal year for Ford," Ford CEO Alan Mulally said in a statement. - ABC News Story

Obama Breaks Decorum and Criticizes Supreme Court

POLITICO's Kasie Hunt, who's in the House chamber, reports that Justice Samuel Alito mouthed the words "not true" when President Barack Obama criticized the Supreme Court's campaign finance decision.

"Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections," Obama said. "Well I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people, and that’s why I’m urging Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to right this wrong."

The shot of the black-robed Supreme Court justices, stone-faced, was priceless.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) stood up behind the justices and clapped vigorously while Alito shook his head and quietly mouthed his discontent.

Schumer and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md) are trying to find a way to legislate around the Supreme Court decision.

"All you have to do is read the dissent, the four justices who said this will defintely open the floodgates to big corporate special interests. Anybody who thinks that's not true is out of touch with the American political process." Van Hollen said.

Van Hollen told POLITICO he expects to unveil the package in the next 10 days to two weeks.

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) was glad the president called out the Supreme Court.

"He [Alito] deserved to be criticized, if he didn't like it he can mouth whatever they want," Weiner said. "These Supreme Court justices sometimes forget that we live in the real world. They got a real world reminder tonight, if you make a boneheaded decision, someone's going to call you out on it."

But one conservative legal expert took sides with Alito -- at least on the substance of Obama's comments.

“The President’s swipe at the Supreme Court was a breach of decorum, and represents the worst of Washington politics — scapegoating ‘special interest’ bogeymen for all that ails Washington in attempt to silence the diverse range of speakers in our democracy,” said Bradley A. Smith, chairman of the Center for Competitive Politics, in The Corner blog on Nationalreview.com. - Politico Story

Obama took to the tactic of trying to bully the Supreme Court for their ruling on Campaign Finance. He however forgot that there is a separation of powers there.

He also forgot that their job is to rule on law, not on what Obama wants. Every single dollar that is spent on elections is spent by special interests. They donate that dollar to the campaign or spend it on ads because they have an interest in the outcome. Obama and Democrats have never been on the side of business and therefore want to limit that funding. Why not, it benefits them if they can keep it out of elections.

Democrats to Target FOX News - AGAIN!!!!

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has come up with a novel way to energize the base and capitalize on the left’s antipathy to Fox News—a “Fact Check Fox” State of the Union rapid response team staffed by grassroots activists.

“This group of Democratic Party activists will stand at the ready to counter the lies and distortions that erupt from the rightwing media and Republican spin doctors like Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck following President Obama's State of the Union address on Wednesday night,” reads the email, which will be sent out Wednesday to its 4 million-plus list. “You will receive rapid response fact check text alerts and a direct line to our Rapid Response team to tell us when you see Republican pundits and Members of Congress twisting the truth.”

The DCCC email, which says it aims to recruit 5,000 new members to its fact check team by midnight, comes with head shots of four top Fox villains—Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity. - Politico Story

FOX News Most Trusted News in America

Fox is the most trusted television news network in the country, according to a new poll out Tuesday.

A Public Policy Polling nationwide survey of 1,151 registered voters Jan. 18-19 found that 49 percent of Americans trusted Fox News, 10 percentage points more than any other network.

Thirty-seven percent said they didn’t trust Fox, also the lowest level of distrust that any of the networks recorded.

There was a strong partisan split among those who said they trusted Fox — with 74 percent of Republicans saying they trusted the network, while only 30 percent of Democrats said they did.

CNN was the second-most-trusted network, getting the trust of 39 percent of those polled. Forty-one percent said they didn’t trust CNN.

Each of the three major networks was trusted by less than 40 percent of those surveyed, with NBC ranking highest at 35 percent. Forty-four percent said they did not trust NBC, which was combined with its sister cable station MSNBC.

Thirty-two percent of respondents said they trusted CBS, while 31 percent trusted ABC. Both CBS and ABC were not trusted by 46 percent of those polled. - Politico Story

It's All The Democrats Fault - Just Ask Them!!!

President Barack Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will be all smiles as the president arrives at the Capitol for his State of the Union speech Wednesday night, but the happy faces can’t hide relationships that are fraying and fraught.

The anger is most palpable in the House, where Pelosi and her allies believe Obama’s reluctance to stake his political capital on health care reform in mid-2009 contributed to the near collapse of negotiations now.

But sources say there are also signs of strain between Reid and White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, and relations between Democrats in the House and Democrats in the Senate are hovering between thinly veiled disdain and outright hostility.

In a display of contempt unfathomable in the feel-good days after Obama’s Inauguration, freshman Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) stood up at a meeting with Pelosi last week to declare: “Reid is done; he’s going to lose” in November, according to three people who were in the room.

Titus denied Tuesday evening that she had singled out Reid, but she acknowledged that she said Democrats would be “f—-ed” if they failed to heed the lessons of Massachusetts, where Republican Scott Brown won Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat last week.

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), a Pelosi ally, took his shots at the Senate on Fox radio Tuesday, describing the Senate as the “House of Lords” and accusing senators of failing to “understand that those of us that go out there every two years stay in touch with the American people.”

On Tuesday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters the legislative process in the Senate is “broken” — prompting Reid to later quip: “I could give you a few comments on how I feel about the House.”

Pelosi and her allies blame the collapsing health reform negotiations, in part, on Obama’s reluctance to sacrifice political capital to seal a final deal in mid-2009. House Democrats also resent that Emanuel and other White House officials forced them to take tough votes on cap and trade and health reform while allowing Reid and Senate Democrats months of fruitless frittering on the details. - Politico Story

Reid Looks Done as Senator in Nevada

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid continues to trail in matchups with prospective GOP challengers, according to a poll released Monday by the liberal blog Daily Kos and Research 2000.

Businessman Danny Tarkanian leads Reid 52 percent to 41 percent, with 7 percent undecided. Former state GOP Chairwoman Sue Lowden is also ahead of Reid by a similar margin, 51 percent to 42 percent, with 7 percent undecided.

Reid’s unfavorables remain high at 55 percent, with only 34 percent holding a favorable view of the four-term senator, with 11 percent undecided.

The poll reports that discontent with both parties remains high—with 57 percent having an unfavorable view of the GOP and 52 percent viewing Democrats unfavorably. President Barack Obama, who won Nevada with 55 percent in 2008, has also seen his approval drop—50 percent now view him unfavorably, 45 percent favorably and 5 percent are undecided.

The poll tested Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman in the Senate race, prior to his announcement Monday that he would not run for governor in 2010. With Goodman running for the Senate as a Democrat, he’s narrowly ahead of Tarkanian by 3 points—44 to 41 percent with 15 percent undecided. He leads Lowden by 4 points—44 percent to 40 percent, with 16 percent undecided.

Goodman’s favorability rating is the highest among the candidates tested, with 47 percent holding a positive opinion of the mayor, 19 percent viewing him unfavorably and 34 percent undecided.

The poll also tested two other Democrats for Senate: Rep. Shelley Berkley and Secretary of State Ross Miller. Both trailed Lowden and Tarkanian. - Politico Story

Obama Trying to Rewind History of Health Talks

After weeks of denials from the White House that the health care reform effort failed to exhibit the transparency President Barack Obama promised on the campaign trail, Obama is conceding that locking the public out of key discussions was a “mistake.”

“We had to make so many decisions quickly in a very difficult set of circumstances that after awhile, we started worrying more about getting the policy right than getting the process right,” Obama told ABC’s Diane Sawyer Monday. “But I had campaigned on process—part of what I had campaigned on was changing how Washington works, opening up, transparency. ...The health care debate as it unfolded legitimately raised concerns not just among my opponents, but also amongst supporters that we just don't know what's going on. And it's an ugly process and it looks like there are a bunch of back room deals.”

Obama said he planned to address the point in his State of the Union address on Wednesday.

“The process didn't run the way I ideally would like it to and that we have to move forward in a way that recaptures that sense of opening things up more,” Obama said.

The president called the lack of transparency “my responsibility,” but moments later in the interview he suggested that decisions to handle key discussions in private were made by Congress. - Politico Story

Obama Looks to Middle Class to Save Democrats

(AP) Declaring America's middle class is "under assault," President Barack Obama unveiled plans Monday to help hurting families pay their bills, save for retirement and care for their kids and aging parents. His comments previewed Wednesday's State of the Union address to Congress.

The White House has promised a sharper focus on jobs and the economy as the dust settles from the punishing loss of the late Edward M. Kennedy's Senate seat in Massachusetts. Republicans won the seat for the first time in decades and took away Democrats' 60-vote majority in the Senate, which Obama's party had needed to bypass Republicans' tactics to stall legislation.

Democrats are trying to regroup to head off more populist anger and stem more losses of congressional seats in November elections. Obama's poll numbers are also off - primarily because of the slow economic recovery and double-digit unemployment. A majority of Americans also have turned against health care reform, the president's signature legislative effort now in jeopardy. - CBS News Story

The sad part is that the Middle Class has been under assault. We continue to be under assault. The real sad part is that Obama and the Democrats could have cared less until they have realized that is the Middle Class that can save the failing Presidency of Obama and the poor leadership of Pelosi and Reid.

Italy Blasts Obama's Haiti Response as a TV Event

Italy's top disaster official blasted the U.S.-led relief effort in Haiti as a "pathetic" failure that is turning a national tragedy into a "vanity show for the television cameras."

Guido Bertolaso, the head of Italy's Civil Protection Agency, told Italian television on Sunday that the U.S. military "tends to confuse military intervention with emergency intervention," and that despite the presence of 13,000 U.S. troops there, "no one is giving orders."

He said there is a danger that aid will be lost by the "inefficient" operation.

Bertolaso threw darts at targets ranging from former President Bill Clinton to the United Nations, which he faulted for throwing aid packages at the island and hoping for the best.

"They thought they could bring something to eat and drink and the problem would be resolved," he told a television interviewer.

Bertolaso called for the appointment of a civilian international humanitarian coordinator.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini quickly distanced the government in Rome from Bertolaso's comments and said the Cabinet-level official was not speaking in an official capacity when he lit into the U.S. - FOX News Story

Retiring Democrat Blasts Party and Obama

Rep. Marion Berry's parting shot, published in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette [no link, subscription only] offers a warning to moderate Democrats and border state moderates — warning of a midterm bloodbath comparable to the 54-seat D-to-R swing in 1994.

But the jaw-dropper is Berry's claim that President Obama personally dismissed any comparison between Democrats now and under Bill Clinton 16 years ago — by saying his personal popularity would bail everybody out.

The retiring Berry, who doesn't say when the remarks were made, now scoffs at Obama's 50-or-below approval rating:

Writes ADG reporter Jane Fullerton:

Berry recounted meetings with White House officials, reminiscent of some during the Clinton days, where he and others urged them not to force Blue Dogs “off into that swamp” of supporting bills that would be unpopular with voters back home.

“I’ve been doing that with this White House, and they just don’t seem to give it any credibility at all,” Berry said. “They just kept telling us how good it was going to be. The president himself, when that was brought up in one group, said, ‘Well, the big difference here and in ’94 was you’ve got me.’ We’re going to see how much difference that makes now.” [snip]

“I began to preach last January that we had already seen this movie and we didn’t want to see it again because we know how it comes out,” said Arkansas’ 1st District congressman, who worked in the Clinton administration before being elected to the House in 1996... "I just began to have flashbacks to 1993 and ’94. No one that was here in ’94, or at the day after the election felt like. It certainly wasn’t a good feeling.” - Politico Story

Democrats Bush Bashing Blame Game Not Working

After three consecutive losses in statewide races, some top Democrats are questioning a tactic aimed at boosting the party’s candidates in each of those contests: Bush-bashing.

Running as much against the Bush White House as he was running against Sen. John McCain, Barack Obama easily carried Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts in 2008.

Yet when Democratic nominees for governor in Virginia and New Jersey and for Senate in Massachusetts sought to tie their GOP opponents to the still-unpopular former president, the strategy didn’t resonate. Voters were more focused on the current administration or local political issues — and the onetime Democratic magic formula seemed yesterday’s news.

“Voters are pretty tired of the blame game,” said longtime Democratic strategist Steve Hildebrand, a top aide on Obama’s presidential campaign. “What a stupid strategy that was.”

Howard Wolfson, a senior official on Hillary Clinton’s campaign and veteran Democratic communications guru, noted that his party was able to run against Republican Herbert Hoover’s Depression-era presidency for 30 years.

“That doesn’t seem to be the case here,” he said. - Politico Story

White House - "More People voted to express their support for Barack Obama than oppose him"

The White House is evaluating whether to take a breather on health care or try to push for passing legislation, but is not convinced Massachusetts voters were trying to block health insurance reform by voting last week to send Republican Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Sunday.

Gibbs said discussions are happening now on timing and whether it is now or in a few months after Congress works on job creation.

"We're working with leaders on Capitol Hill to try to figure out the best path forward," Gibbs told "Fox News Sunday." We don't know what that is quite yet ... The problems that existed in American health care that existed a year ago or a week ago continue today."

The Senate election Tuesday in Massachusetts gave Republicans the victory they needed to block the Democratic health care bill from passing the Senate as Brown becomes the critical 41st vote in procedural moves to end debate. Last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi conceded she did not have enough votes in the House to pass a Senate version that already has made it through that chamber. Doing so would avoid bringing Brown into the equation.

Gibbs said that Brown may have campaigned on stopping the health care bill but that's not why voters elected him over Democrat Martha Coakley.

"More people voted to express their support for Barack Obama than to oppose him," Gibbs said.

"Seventy percent of the voters in Massachusetts wanted to work with Democrats on health care reform, only 28 percent want to stop health care reform from happening. ... If Republicans want to assume that the outcome of what happened in Massachusetts is a big endorsement of their policies when 40 percent are enthusiastic about them and 58 percent are angry about them, then I hope this misread that election as badly as anybody could," Gibbs said.

Obama adviser David Axelrod said voters want Republicans to work with Democrats to fix problems in the health care system, not to obstruct those efforts. He added that it would be politically foolish for lawmakers who supported the overhaul so far to walk away from it now. - FOX News Story

Maybe the White House should take off their rose colored glasses. In case they haven't looked at the polls lately Obama is below 50% approval. That means more oppose than approve. Also, when it comes to Health Care the polls show support at less than 40%.