When Barack Obama was campaigning for president, he often promised a new era of "postpartisanship," saying he would take feedback from both parties, and respect conservative ideas. According to the latest polling, his approval rating among republicans is just 27 percent, much lower than George W. Bush's approval rating among democrats when he was elected to his first term. And despite nation-wide excitement about for his campaign, and his overwhelming popularity abroad, he was only elected by 5 percentage points in the presidential election.
Obama has, however, appointed conservative thinkers to his cabinet, and has even taken some hold-overs from the Bush administration, including defense secretary Robert Gates (although Bush was more or less forced to appoint Gates at the behest of military leaders, after the disaster known as Donald Rumsveld).
The Pundits Either Love Him, or Hate HimFinding a conservative pundit who approves of the job Barack Obama is doing would be an adventure. Commentators like Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck have declared him to be a socialist, and soft on terror, and Rush Limbaugh even has called him a communist and a facist (even though these two principles are on the opposite end of the political spectrum) a traitor, and famously stated that he hopes the new president's policies will fail. One recent political cartoon even stated that conservative pundits are running out of "ists" to call Obama, after declaring him a facist, a terrorist, a communist and a socialist.
But Obama hasn't even been president for 100 days, and it's impossible to tell at this point what his legacy will be. His approval rating is hovering just over 60 percent, and banks are lending and the housing market seems to be improving, showing signs of economic recovery (although the job market is still just as bad is it was when the year started). If the recession ends by the end of Obama's first term, that all but garuantees him re-election.
The Republican Opinion is not Indicative of the Opinion of the Nation as a Whole
Recent polls have shown that only about 24 percent of registered voters indentify themselves are Republicans, and many are the Fox News viewers, and listeners of Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly, who will never approve of Obama. This portion of the Republican party may be dying off. Recent polls, as well as articles in the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the generally bi-partisan Christian Science Monitor, have declared that younger conservatives tend to be more moderate, and view cooperation between the parties in a positive light.
There are More Independents than There Have Been in a Long Time
Independents comprise roughly 30 percent of the electorate, meaning anyone who wishes to get re-elected needs to win the approval of this particular segment, which tends to distrust both extreme liberal, and extreme conservative doctrine.
Obama has so far, implimented what appears to be a leftward agenda, he has reversed many of the Bush-era environmental policies, closed Guantanimo Bay, ended the practice of water-boarding and other aggressive interrogation techniques, and is talking about letting the Bush tax cuts expire. He has, however, allowed many Wall Street institutions keep their Bush-era tax breaks and continued the practice of renditions (sending a suspected terrorist to another country where they can be tortured legally), but these things seem to have gone largely unnoticed by the general public.
