Self-Back Patting Post No.2

See below for part 1. Let's not forget the conventional wisdom of just 10 months ago that Obama was a lock to win re-election.

Me on Dec. 23, 2010:

"Dear Leader's problem is more fundamental - at best he is not as advertised (political moderate, world-class temperament, uniter, able to marshall the finest economic minds in the land, yadayadayada) and, at worst, he is a slick but completely overwhelmed blunderer and/or something just shy of the Manchurian candidate. Americans now understand the thinness of his resume and the shallowness of his character, and a one-sided (against us) treaty with a crumbling, two-bit power run by a bunch of lying thugs is not going to alter that fundamental calculus American voters. Voters are simply going to weigh chance to remove these deficiencies from office against what is currently an unknown alternative. The notion of these "political wins" having any bearing on Obama's re-election is missing the big picture, and missing it big."

Me on Jan. 21, 2011:

- Obama will run with unemployment at/near 10% and gas over $4. While not a lock, these are highly probable. The economy is recovering but not fast enough to add the number of jobs needed to help Obama politically. Jobs creators are justifiably cautious and the only shift has been in Obama's rhetoric; the nasty, job-killing stuff he has foisted on the economy is still fully operational down in the inner workings of the economy. Even if unemployment moderates a bit, it is a virtual certainty that it will be higher than when he took office. Not good. Gas will be over $4 and food prices will be higher and rising (either explicitly so or stealthily so). These are core pocketbook problems that Americans have historically taken out on incumbent Presidents.

- The world will look a mess, further revealling what a non-entity at best, a provocateur through his weakness at worst, Obama is on the world stage.

- ObamaCare will continue to backfire. Premiums will rise, doctors will refuse Medicare, drug prices will go up, among many other adverse developments. And we may even see the SCOTUS declare major portions of it unconstitutional. Under that scenario are we really going to re-elect the guy whose signature achievement proves to be a legally out-of-bounds, economic flop?

Me on March 18, 2011:

"The man is so appallingly, awfully, and disastrously appalling, awful and disastrous that it is hard for me to believe that he can have an easy time of it in 2012. And yes, I understand the power of incumbancy, but the evidence that has been mounting in favor of putting the Obama experiment behind us is overwhelming and growing everyday, and the arguments for the conventional wisdom are extraordinarily weak...Finally, there is the economy. No amount of carping, which I and others have amply done, can express the abysmally malign influence of the Pelosi-Reid-Obama nexus on the US economy. Although stronger than it was during the worst of the panic of 2008 and resultant recession, the economy is far from stronger, and worse, it doesn't feel strong where it counts, to average people."