The NRA outshoots Obama

By THE WASHINGTON TIMES

People prefer the NRA to Obama

The National Rifle Association has a higher mean approval rating among likely voters than Barack Obama. This and other fascinating facts emerged from the Democracy Corps/Third Way national security survey released this week. According to its liberal authors,the “sobering”results of the survey provide “a wake-up call for President Obama,his party and progressives on national security.”

The most talked-about finding was that 44 percent of likely voters say they think the United States is less safe from foreign threats than two years ago,and 51 percent think America is less respected since Mr. Obama took office. “This is surprising,”according to the pollsters,“given the global acclaim –and Nobel Peace Prize award –that flowed to the new president after he took office.”

All that initial global acclaim,however,was based on the same irrational exuberance that swept the least qualified president in modern memory into the White House. There was no substantive reason to think Mr. Obama would have the necessary skills to be an able shepherd of America’s national security interests. The Nobel Peace Prize in particular drew attention to the new president’s utter lack of accomplishments. Even the White House downplayed it.

Mr. Obama gets relatively high marks for handling national security issues such as the war on terrorism and Afghanistan,but these numbers also are declining. In May,Mr. Obama enjoyed a 22 percent margin of those who felt he was doing a better job than his predecessor in handling national security. In the latest poll,the margin is 5 percent. Mr. Obama’s highest disapproval –51 percent –is for his handling of interrogation and prosecution of terrorist suspects,a signature element of his national security policy. He gets much higher marks for fighting terrorists,which indicates the public would rather America kill the bad guys than Mirandize them.

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