Pollster John Zogby joins the Washington Whispers team to regularly update our new Obamameter. Each week, Zogby will size up Barack Obama on a specific issue, his popularity, or job performance and, based on his polling results and expert analysis, come up with a rating of between 1 and 100. In this week's Obamameter, Zogby analyzes Obama's budget address to Congress. He gives Obama 90 out of 100.
"The speech before Congress gave the president an opportunity to regenerate public confidence in the government. He has the political capital, with his approval hitting 68 percent in some polls. He was ambitious, connected all the dots between recovery, energy, healthcare reform, and education. Americans understand it will take more than tax cuts. They know they are going to spend tons of money, and they know something has to be done. Obama went over the heads of Congress much the same way LBJ did in January 1964 when he cited JFK's wishes to pass Civil Rights legislation. The bill for the president's vision will be high, but like FDR he tied relief with recovery and reform—and all with a call for a balanced budget in the end.
"Watch for Obama's poll numbers to soar, allowing him to bank some more political capital to use in upcoming battles with Republicans. And in the battle of the two skinny guys, Obama emerged large while Gov. Bobby Jindal [who gave the Republican response to Obama] looked small. Obama at least explained how inevitable and obvious government spending will be used. Jindal called upon the strength of the American people but forgot to mention how much federal spending it took to rebuild New Orleans. Obama score: 90."
John Zogby is president and CEO of Zogby International, a public opinion, research, and business solutions firm with experience working in more than 70 countries around the globe. Founded and led by Zogby since 1984, Zogby International specializes in telephone, Internet, and face-to-face survey research and analysis for corporate, political, nonprofit, and governmental clients. The firm is headquartered in Utica, N.Y. John Zogby is also the author of The Way We'll Be: The Zogby Report on the Transformation of the American Dream (Random House).
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