Obama's no-good, very bad week

Obama’s no-good, very bad week
By Liz Goodwin
Fri Sep 24, 2010 11:35 am ET

The woman who told President Obama she was "exhausted" of defending him on CNBC on Tuesday set the tone for what has
turned into a pretty bad week for Obama and his restless base.

"Quite frankly, I'm exhausted. Exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the man for change I voted for, and deeply disappointed with where we are right now," Velma Hart told the president in a televised question and answer session.

"I've been told that I voted for a man who said he was going to change things in a meaningful way for the middle class. I'm one of those people and I'm waiting, sir, I'm waiting. I don't feel it yet."

Obama answered the question deftly, defusing the tension with a few jokes and then touting some of the legislative changes that he says will help her and other middle-class families.

But as Obama supporter Jesse Jackson told The Daily Beast, Hart looks like "canary in the mine" for Obama and his team, showing that even some of those who enthusiastically voted for him in 2008 are losing confidence, which may prevent them from going out and voting this November.

Then on Wednesday night, Obama was heckled by angry AIDS protesters at a Democratic fundraiser in New York--not usually
a place where a Democratic president would have to worry about getting a hard time. (In other not-so-good news, the president couldn't fill the space, even with rock-bottom ticket prices.)

Obama got annoyed with the protesters, who wanted more funding for AIDS prevention and treatment as well as a repeal of the military's ban on openly gay service. He said he had raised funding for AIDS prevention, and then said those angry about don't ask, don't tell would be better off mounting protests at GOP events.

"But hold on a second. But hold on a second. Think about--think about what happened in Congress two days ago where you got 56 Democrats voting to debate this issue, and zero Republicans. And as a consequence, some of those signs should be going up at the other folks' events," he said.

Just last night, "Daily Show" host and frequent Obama-defender Jon Stewart told Fox News' Bill O'Reilly that he's "saddened" that Obama hasn't done more to change Washington.

"I think people feel a disappointment in that there was a sense that Jesus will walk on water and no you are looking at it like, 'Oh look at that, he's just treading water' I thought he'd do a better job," he said.

Meanwhile, if Stewart's disenchantment weren't enough of a blow, the artist Shepard Fairey, who had created the iconic "Hope" portrait of Obama during the 2008 campaign, told the National Journal in an interview today that, while he still regards Obama favorably, he has felt some "disappointment" with the president's performance as well.

The younger voters who flocked to Obama's campaign "wanted somebody who was going to fight against the status quo," Fairey
told Aamer Madhani of the National Journal's Hotline blog. "And I don't think that Obama has done that."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100924/el_yblog_upshot/obamas-no-good-very-bad-week