Opinion - As Ohio goes

As Ohio goes

That’s My Opinion

By Bob Robinson

Fed up yet?

It seems the bad news for our struggling president never seems to stop.

Now we have a security leak about our efforts in Afghanistan surfacing on Monday. By evening it was all over the news. The information dates back years but is just now being released.

The White House is attempting damage control with announcements that this was not new information to the administration.

“There’s nothing new in this that the president didn’t already know,” said a spokesman Tuesday.

Yeah. Okay. And that means… what?

The Pentagon is scrambling to find out who and how. It has shown a concern over a security breach, and a potentially damaging leak, that was lacking from the White House. I seem to recall the same lack of concern from our leader over a variety of major issues during the past 18 months.

Obama will take the hit for another blow to his leadership abilities, probably because of his seeming cluelessness, but mostly because the buck stops with him.

I’ve often acknowledged being ashamed of the lack of professionalism within my profession. I just heard another reason to question the ethics of my fellow journalists.

It has come from Investor.com and the Wall Street Journal. So far.

We all know there have been accusations of partisanship in the major media outlets, both left and right. Well, a bunch on the left, just one on the right. And yeah, it’s likely true.

The kicker, though, is something called the JournoList. It seems hundreds of liberal journalists have gotten together on a listserv group not only to discuss their agendas, but also share ideas on how they can shape the news to promote those agendas.

Private emails were “found” and released by Tucker Carlson’s Daily Caller website regarding strategies (by journalists) on how to develop damage control over the videos of Rev. Jeremiah Wright. They believed Obama’s campaign was in jeopardy at that point.

As it should have been. Just my own humble opinion.

Except “we” wanted “change” so badly, we ignored it and elected him anyway. Did JournoList play a role in that?

Maybe.

I can’t believe how many things we “ignored” in order to teach Republicans a lesson. I mean let’s face it… Obama is doing exactly what he said he would do.

With the exception of transparency, taxes and ethics, of course.

So how’s “change” going for you? I’m not impressed, but you already knew that. The American people don’t seem to be too fond of our president’s performance, either.

Obama’s latest Rasmussen poll rating is -20 and it’s been floating around in that area for months. Twenty five percent strongly approve of his performance, while 45 percent strongly disapprove.

When he took office it was +30. Within a few months it was a more realistic +15 or so… but rather than stay level, it kept dropping. The number of voters approving and disapproving had equaled out by July 2009, and with only one exception (about a -4 in February) it has been in minus double digits ever since.

Most Americans still want the health care bill repealed, and most Americans still support Arizona’s decision to enforce federal immigration laws.

In the Senate balance of power, Dems can expect to lose three seats with seven more (five Dem, two Rep) being called “toss ups” by Rasmussen. Ohio, which was a toss up at one point, now leans Rep, with Republican Rob Portman leading Democrat Lee Fisher by six points.

No polling service is yet predicting the balance of power in the House. All acknowledge that the party in the White House typically loses a large number of House seats in mid-term elections, but with a 78-seat majority (balance would shift with a Dem loss of 39 seats to Reps), no legitimate service is willing to predict a Rep takeover in November.

According to Rasmussen, the top issues Americans currently care about are: the economy (85 percent), government ethics and corruption (72 percent), health care (70 percent) and taxes (66 percent).

Dem control of the White House and both houses of Congress have resulted in a worsening economy, no concern over corruption and ethics, a health care bill that most Americans dislike and the forecast of steadily increasing taxes.

This does not bode well for Democrats in November.

With Portman’s recent lead over Fisher, Ohio has taken a slight shift to the right in the race to replace retiring Sen. George Voinovich (R). Republicans for statewide offices, as well as many in both houses of the legislature, seem to be gaining or leading in the polls.

In the race for governor, Rasmussen shows John Kasich now holding a five-point lead over incumbent Democrat Gov. Ted Strickland… this after running neck and neck for months.

In presidential elections, pundits have said for years that as Ohio goes so goes the country.

Will it happen again in 2012?

I hope so. It can’t happen a minute too soon.

That’s my opinion. What’s yours?

Bob Robinson is the retired editor of The Daily Advocate, Greenville, Ohio. If you wish to receive a daily notification of his comments, opinions and reports, send your email address to: opinionsbybob@gmail.com. Feel free to express your views.