By Conn Carroll
Obamacare is endlessly referred to as President Obama’s “signature domestic achievement,” but six more weeks like the last half dozen could change that to “ruined his presidency.”
Consider Washington Examiner White House correspondent Susan Crabtree’s report that the latest CNN/ORC International survey found that “for the first time, a majority of Americans at 53 percent believe the president is not honest and trustworthy.”
The survey also found, Crabtree said, that only 40 percent of those surveyed “say Obama can manage the government effectively.” That figure is based on responses to how Obama is viewed in terms of nine separate personal characteristics.
Worse is coming
But those numbers, as bad as they are for the president’s political prospects, only skim the surface of the damage being wrought by Obamacare.
Examiner’s Chief Political Correspondent Byron York dug deep into the data and concluded that Obama’s problem isn’t merely that Obamacare’s rollout has been disastrous but that it has and will continue to inflict irreversible damage to his credibility.
Put another way, people no longer believe Obama when he promises something because his Obamacare promises are proving to be empty. They have decided Obama no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt.
Are you listening, GOP?
As York explains, things are only going to get worse for Obama as Obamacare’s expanding implementation steadily consumes millions more people.
“Millions of Americans are unhappy with what they have experienced under Obamacare — canceled policies, higher premiums, and sky-high deductibles. They are also much more likely to believe predictions of future problems,” York writes.
Voters who are convinced things are only going to get worse are especially open to listening to somebody with fresh ideas and different approaches. Who will that be in 2014?
