In advance of today’s visit by the President and Mrs. Obama to Asheville, Politico has a fascinating story about the political climate in North Carolina, including quotes from several N.C. Democratic members of Congress. The headline says it all:
North Carolina Cools on President Obama
To be more precise, North Carolina has cooled on President Obama’s policies. That’s what the Tea Party movement is all about — policies — not Mr. Obama personally.
Our state’s Democratic politicians know the majority of the public does NOT support Mr. Obama’s massive government expansion and unprecedented, alarming deficit spending. And the politicians are telegraphing it loud and clear, as evidenced by this: (emphasis is mine)
So perhaps it’s no coincidence that not a single elected official or candidate is expected to greet Obama on the tarmac after Air Force One touches down in the district of Rep. Heath Shuler – one of the 39 Democrats who voted against health care reform.
“If it happens today he probably doesn’t carry the state,” Mark Gibney, a political science professor at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, said of Obama and the 2012 election. “There’s not the same pride that this is our president in the same way of the pride that this is our candidate, especially among the young people.”
The new health care law is, of course, a major point of disagreement with the President. Rasmussen reports that 57 percent of North Carolinians oppose the law’s requirement that every American buy government-approved insurance. While 20 or so states have joined a lawsuit to fight the law, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper has said he will not. JLF’s Daren Bakst is urging Mr. Cooper to reconsider. In this brief interview, Bakst explains why.
