Rael
01-19-2009, 04:05 AM
Obama can save us, says America as polls show wave of optimism sweeping the nation
By David Gardner
Last updated at 1:50 AM on 17th January 2009
High hopes: President-Elect Barack Obama in his official photograph released this week. Most Americans believe he will improve their situation
Barack Obama moves into the White House on Tuesday amid a surge of optimism that he can turn America's battered fortunes around.
The President-elect went back on the campaign trail yesterday to try to convince the public that his new £565billion rescue package will revive the U.S. economy.
He was hoping to win grassroots support by meeting workers in Cleveland, Ohio, in the industrial Midwest.
Mr Obama has already scored his first big victory in Congress, winning Senate approval on Thursday to spend the second half of the Wall Street bailout fund.
If his new rescue package is passed as expected in mid-February, he will have an unprecedented war chest to use against the most dramatic slide in the U.S. economy since the 1930s.
The incoming president has a lot to live up to, with polls suggesting that the public has higher expectations of him than for any recent U.S. president.
According to a survey published last night, 71 per cent of Americans believe the economy will improve during the first year of the Obama presidency and 65 per cent said they think unemployment will drop.
Asked about cash-strapped Wall Street, 72 per cent said they thought the stock market would recover.
Some 63 per cent were confident that their personal financial situation would improve.
'He cannot not succeed. He has to succeed because the world really depends on him right now,' said Richard Kern, 51, who works in a home remodeling business in Bernalillo, New Mexico.
Obama
Obama (right) talks with workers during a visit to Cardinal Fastener & Specialty Company in Bedford Heights, Ohio
'We're all hanging in by the treads of our shoes, waiting for the economy to break. We need good news.'
There was solid support for Mr Obama's recovery plan in the Associated Press-Gfk survey, with 58 per cent saying they believe it will bring significant improvements to the economy.
Respondents also gave the President-elect high marks for his leadership skills and empathy, particularly for the concerns of the middle class.
Even Ronald Reagan, who won a landslide victory over President Jimmy Carter in 1980 during another period of economic uncertainty, was viewed more sceptically than Obama before his inauguration.
Mr Obama is having a tougher time selling his plan to politicians in Washington, however.
Both Democrats and Republicans are concerned about spending more taxpayers' cash so soon after a £480billion Wall Street bailout was ushered through Congress in November.
Aides say Mr Obama is now trying a different tack to get the bill passed - by appealing directly to voters.
Enlarge Bush regrets
He plans to offer tax cuts to middle-class workers and small businesses while spending hundreds of billions on public projects.
Yesterday's poll showed 65 per cent of those surveyed believe Mr Obama will be an above-average president. More than a quarter said he will be 'outstanding'.
That compares with the 47 per cent who said in 2000 that they believed George Bush would be an above-average president.
The AP-GfK poll found widespread disapproval of Obama's predecessor, President George W. Bush.
Sixty-one per cent believe Bush will go down in history as a below average or poor president, including 31 per cent of Republicans.
Asked why she believed Obama was likely to succeed, Lauri Raleigh, 48, of Hanover, Pennsylvania, replied, 'Because he's not Bush.'
Raleigh, a teacher and mother of three, said Obama 'brings a different set of values, a different viewpoint to Washington, to the White House in particular, that we haven't seen there in the last eight years.
inauguration
Flags are hung on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol Building: Preparations for next Tuesday's inauguration continue
'His openness to other ideas, his willingness to take advice from other people is something that I think has been lacking in the presidency.'
Despite the widespread-support he enjoys, Mr Obama's transition to the White House has not gone as smoothly as he would have liked.
The confirmation hearing for his choice of Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, has been delayed for at least a week in a row over his failure to pay £23,000 in taxes.
Mr Obama also has to come up with a new choice for Commerce Secretary after New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson withdrew because of a corruption probe in his home state.
However, a Senate committee overwhelmingly approved the nomination of Hillary Clinton as his Secretary of State.
The poll found 69 per cent approve of the way Obama has handled his transition to the presidency.
That is down slightly from 73 per cent last month, before Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was arrested on federal charges of trying to barter Obama's open Senate seat for personal gain.
Still, the poll found approval of Obama's transition remained strong and remarkably broad despite the Blagojevich controversy and other, smaller snags.
By David Gardner
Last updated at 1:50 AM on 17th January 2009
High hopes: President-Elect Barack Obama in his official photograph released this week. Most Americans believe he will improve their situation
Barack Obama moves into the White House on Tuesday amid a surge of optimism that he can turn America's battered fortunes around.
The President-elect went back on the campaign trail yesterday to try to convince the public that his new £565billion rescue package will revive the U.S. economy.
He was hoping to win grassroots support by meeting workers in Cleveland, Ohio, in the industrial Midwest.
Mr Obama has already scored his first big victory in Congress, winning Senate approval on Thursday to spend the second half of the Wall Street bailout fund.
If his new rescue package is passed as expected in mid-February, he will have an unprecedented war chest to use against the most dramatic slide in the U.S. economy since the 1930s.
The incoming president has a lot to live up to, with polls suggesting that the public has higher expectations of him than for any recent U.S. president.
According to a survey published last night, 71 per cent of Americans believe the economy will improve during the first year of the Obama presidency and 65 per cent said they think unemployment will drop.
Asked about cash-strapped Wall Street, 72 per cent said they thought the stock market would recover.
Some 63 per cent were confident that their personal financial situation would improve.
'He cannot not succeed. He has to succeed because the world really depends on him right now,' said Richard Kern, 51, who works in a home remodeling business in Bernalillo, New Mexico.
Obama
Obama (right) talks with workers during a visit to Cardinal Fastener & Specialty Company in Bedford Heights, Ohio
'We're all hanging in by the treads of our shoes, waiting for the economy to break. We need good news.'
There was solid support for Mr Obama's recovery plan in the Associated Press-Gfk survey, with 58 per cent saying they believe it will bring significant improvements to the economy.
Respondents also gave the President-elect high marks for his leadership skills and empathy, particularly for the concerns of the middle class.
Even Ronald Reagan, who won a landslide victory over President Jimmy Carter in 1980 during another period of economic uncertainty, was viewed more sceptically than Obama before his inauguration.
Mr Obama is having a tougher time selling his plan to politicians in Washington, however.
Both Democrats and Republicans are concerned about spending more taxpayers' cash so soon after a £480billion Wall Street bailout was ushered through Congress in November.
Aides say Mr Obama is now trying a different tack to get the bill passed - by appealing directly to voters.
Enlarge Bush regrets
He plans to offer tax cuts to middle-class workers and small businesses while spending hundreds of billions on public projects.
Yesterday's poll showed 65 per cent of those surveyed believe Mr Obama will be an above-average president. More than a quarter said he will be 'outstanding'.
That compares with the 47 per cent who said in 2000 that they believed George Bush would be an above-average president.
The AP-GfK poll found widespread disapproval of Obama's predecessor, President George W. Bush.
Sixty-one per cent believe Bush will go down in history as a below average or poor president, including 31 per cent of Republicans.
Asked why she believed Obama was likely to succeed, Lauri Raleigh, 48, of Hanover, Pennsylvania, replied, 'Because he's not Bush.'
Raleigh, a teacher and mother of three, said Obama 'brings a different set of values, a different viewpoint to Washington, to the White House in particular, that we haven't seen there in the last eight years.
inauguration
Flags are hung on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol Building: Preparations for next Tuesday's inauguration continue
'His openness to other ideas, his willingness to take advice from other people is something that I think has been lacking in the presidency.'
Despite the widespread-support he enjoys, Mr Obama's transition to the White House has not gone as smoothly as he would have liked.
The confirmation hearing for his choice of Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, has been delayed for at least a week in a row over his failure to pay £23,000 in taxes.
Mr Obama also has to come up with a new choice for Commerce Secretary after New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson withdrew because of a corruption probe in his home state.
However, a Senate committee overwhelmingly approved the nomination of Hillary Clinton as his Secretary of State.
The poll found 69 per cent approve of the way Obama has handled his transition to the presidency.
That is down slightly from 73 per cent last month, before Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was arrested on federal charges of trying to barter Obama's open Senate seat for personal gain.
Still, the poll found approval of Obama's transition remained strong and remarkably broad despite the Blagojevich controversy and other, smaller snags.