What Obama Misread
There are no data showing Americans voted for Obama because they wanted "a fundamental transformation of America". There were no polls showing both GOP and Democrat supporters - in 2008 - calling for a complete overhaul of the American way of life. I never found any poll(s) where Americans wanted Obama to do the following things: overhaul the Healthcare system from a free-market system to a government controlled and single payer system, and implementation of stricter regulation under existing EPA regulations that killed jobs in oil and coal industries.
What Obama didn't realize, in my opinion, is that politics moves cyclically not symmetrically. Which means that changes in the nation are predictable and are simply responsive to political and economic environment. In 2008, majority of the polls showed that GOP's influence was down and that the support for Democrats - not Obama - was high.
In 2004, President George W. Bush's favorability was in the 50s for one reason - the ongoing war which many Americans believed was necessary for the security of the nation. However, in 2008, that fear faded and people just warred out. Even if Hillary Clinton was the nominee, she would have won because factors or indicators were favorable to the Democrat party. In fact, this is the same cycle that hits the Carter administration. The rise of Islamic fundamentalists in Iran, which proceeded the attack on US embassy in Iran and imprisonment of US embassy staff in Tehran, gave American voters the impression that Carter was weak. American voters decided it was time to give someone else the commander-in-chief title. The polls swayed toward Ronald Reagan in the closing months of the that year, and despite the rhetoric, the polls accurately predicted Reagan's victory. President Reagan's favorability propelled his Vice President - George Walker Bush Sr - to win the presidential election of 1989 to 1993. But when running for his second term, tax increases that were contrary to his pledge, and a bad economy forced Americans to vote for the challenger; he was defeated by a new comer, President Bill Clinton.
In 2008, we saw the cycle spinning in favor of the Democrat party again. Majority of the pre-election polls in 2008 showed Americans - both right and left - were exhausted. They grew tired of the fighting and the economic downturn which resulted in the recession in 2008. Furthermore, the failure of the Bush administration to find the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) left the American people sour. These polls predicted a landslide Democrat victory for 2008 and it happened. Obama completely misread his victory; believing he ran the most brilliant campaign and that he was given the mandate to, in his own words, "fundamentally changing America". He thought whatever he would do between 2008-10 would be justified and supported, but he was dead wrong!
In 2010, the American people realized they were being doped by a smooth talking candidate and that the changes he promised weren't changes they expected. Amongst some of the controversial policies he installed was the destruction of the free-market US healthcare system. A system majority of Americans believed to be the best in the world. And off course, who is going to disagree with that when the leaders of the world, example the leaders of Canada and Saudi Arabia to name a few, came to US to be treated? The fact that these leaders come to US to receive the best care, and the best treatment - many argued - was because the US healthcare system was far superior and controlled by the private sector, not the government.
Across America, Liberals, Independents, Libertarians, and Conservatives rebelled against the Obama administration. Town-halls all across America filled with angry citizens confronting their elected officials. Despite the nationwide protest, Obama and his cohorts in Congress proceeded to pass the purely partisan Obamacare - the taking over the Healthcare industry. When November 2010 arrived, voters took to the polls and voted out moderate Republicans and Majority of Democrats. The Democrat super-majority diminished in just two years; the Republicans regained the House of Representatives and the Filibuster proof Democrat Senate gone. The pendulum began swinging the Republican way.
President Obama will need a miracle to pull off a victory next week after all that transpired in his first term in office. Voters felt betrayed; even Conservatives and Republicans who voted for him in 2008 confessed they drunk the cool-aid, many became extremely enthusiastic about voting against President Obama.
The first sign that President Obama is in trouble is, despite all the money he spent trashing and demonizing his opponents, Gov Romney, he didn't gain any substantial benefit from it. His opponent somehow managed to hold on to his polls (national) even to this very day, he is stronger than two years ago and more likely to pull off a huge victory come next weeks' presidential election. If Gov Romney won, it is not because he is a smart fella, the circle just rotated back to the GOP party.
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