Down And Low

From Yahoo:

"Poll: Ukraine crisis hurts Obama approval ratings"

Foreign policy used to stand out as a not-so-bleak spot in the public's waning assessment of Barack Obama. Not anymore. He's getting low marks for handling Russia's swoop into Ukraine, and more Americans than ever disapprove of the way Obama is doing his job, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll. Despite the poor performance reviews, Obama's primary tactic so far — imposing economic sanctions on key Russians — has strong backing. Close to 9 out of 10 Americans support sanctions as a response to Russia's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, the poll indicates. About half of that group says the U.S. sanctions so far are about right, while the other half wants to see them strengthened, the AP-GfK poll found. Most Democrats say the sanctions were OK, while a majority of Republicans find them too weak. "We're supposed to be a country that helps smaller countries in need," said Christopher Ashby, 29, a Republican in Albemarle, N.C., who wants a more powerful response. "Ukraine at this time is definitely in need." Ashby, a stay-at-home dad caring for three young daughters, said, "When I look at Obama, I see my 5-year-old daughter looking at something that just happened and saying, 'What do I do?'" Overall disapproval of the job Obama is doing ticked up to 59 percent — a record high for his presidency — in the poll released Wednesday. That's still well below the 72 percent disapproval rate that former President George W. Bush recorded in the AP-GfK poll in October 2008. Still, Obama's 41 percent approval rating is a sobering number for fellow Democrats running in this fall's House and Senate elections. Americans are now divided over which party they would rather see in control of Congress. Democrats held a slight edge over Republicans in the January AP-GfK poll. Obama gets lowest marks for his handling of the federal budget, immigration and the economy. Support for Obama's education policies, which had been a strong point, dipped into negative territory this month, too. Republicans have long criticized the president as too weak in asserting American power abroad. Yet until now, foreign policy hasn't been a drag on Obama's second term: Americans were about as likely to endorse his actions as to disapprove. Now he's hit a new low on international relations — just 40 percent approval.  The idea of lending any type of military support to Ukraine is unpopular, the poll says. Obama has said there are no plans to use military force to dislodge Russia from the Crimean Peninsula. Richard Johnson, a politically independent retiree in Redmond, Wash., said the United States shouldn't have gotten involved at all, especially since many Crimean residents favor Russia.

 

^ It seems the "day dream" that many people had with Obama is ending and Americans are starting to finally wake up and see the truth. Not only can't he handle international situations (which is a main-stay for any US President) but he also doesn't have a handle on domestic issues (ie "Obama gets lowest marks for his handling of the federal budget, immigration and the economy. Support for Obama's education policies, which had been a strong point, dipped into negative territory this month, too.") I will add his Obamacare is a hot mess as well since no one from the top-down seems to have a clue what is going on. I understand that you can't focus on everything as President, but he doesn't seem able to focus on anything other than going on constant vacations. He is all talk with no real substance. If something goes wrong he constantly blames someone else rather than "putting his big boy pants on" (as Judge Milian always says on The People's Court" and accepting that the buck stops with him. The only good thing is that in 2016 he will be out of office and hopefully we will have someone (Republican or Democrat) come in that will work to fix the mess he has created in the past 8 years. The fact that no one had heard of him before he ran for President the first time should have been a clue to people, but they seemed to not care. They wanted a "Yes We Can!" hope that, so far, has turned into a "Yes, We Can, But No I Can't!" ^

http://news.yahoo.com/poll-ukraine-crisis-hurts-obama-approval-ratings-070926645--politics.html