In a blog entry for the Nation, Jamelle Bouie argues that the public wants President Barack Obama to stand up for himself and his party, according to poll results.
In addition to showing Texas Governor Rick Perry's commanding lead over former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann in the Republican presidential primary, the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll also contains what must be disheartening news for the White House. Despite the debt ceiling fight — where President Obama demonstrated his political maturity in the face of complete Republican recklessness — only 39 percent of Americans trust the president to do a "better job" on the federal budget deficit, compared to the 42 percent who trust Republicans. Likewise, Americans are tied at 40-40 on who they trust to successfully create jobs, and only slightly prefer Obama when it comes to who they trust to handle the economy — Obama gets 42 percent support to 39 support for Republicans.
If anything, this is a sign that the White House's preferred strategy — let's make Obama the "adult in the room" — isn't working. Instead, we have a more familiar dynamic: now that the choice is between a Republican message on deficit reduction from Republicans and a Republican-lite message on deficit reduction from Democrats, voters have opted for the genuine article.
Read Jamelle Bouie's entire blog entry at the Nation.