Barack Obama a hérité d'un nouveau sobriquet, «Mr. Unpopular», gracieuseté de l'hebdomadaire Time, qui tente d'expliquer dans cet article pourquoi la popularité du président américain a chuté d'une vingtaine de points (selon Gallup) depuis son arrivée à la Maison-Blanche. Même si la cote du démocrate est légèrement supérieure à celle de Ronald Reagan et Bill Clinton à la même période de leur présidence respective, le journaliste Michael Scherer est sceptique sur ses chances de répéter l'exploit des 40e et 42e présidents, à savoir une réélection accompagnée d'une forte reprise économique. Je cite un passage de l'article de Scherer dans le texte en priant un de nos collaborateurs de le traduire :
A sense of disappointment, bordering on betrayal, has been growing across the country, especially in moderate states like Indiana, where people now openly say they didn't quite understand the President they voted for in 2008. The fear most often expressed is that Obama is taking the country somewhere they don't want to go. "We bought what he said. He offered a lot of hope," says Fred Ferlic, an Obama voter and orthopedic surgeon in South Bend who has since soured on his choice. Ferlic talks about the messy compromises in health care reform, his sense of an inhospitable business climate and the growth of government spending under Obama. "He's trying to Europeanize us, and the Europeans are going the other way," continues Ferlic, a former Democratic campaign donor who plans to vote Republican this year. "The entire American spirit is being broken."
One explanation for Obama's steep decline is that his presidency rests on what Gallup's Frank Newport calls a "paradox" between Obama and the electorate. In 2008, Newport notes, trust in the federal government was at a historic low, dropping to around 25%, where it still remains. Yet Obama has offered government as the primary solution to most of the nation's woes, calling for big new investments in health care, education, infrastructure and energy. Some voters bucked at the incongruity, repeatedly telling pollsters that even programs that have clearly helped the economy, like the $787 billion stimulus, did no such thing. Meanwhile, the resulting spike in deficits, which has been greatly magnified by tax revenue lost to the economic downturn, has spooked a broad sweep of the country, which simply does not trust Washington to responsibly handle such a massive liability.
(Photo AP)