Freedom Line Blog

It’s a particularly strange dynamic for an attorney and politician, given those professions’ reliance upon the art of persuasion.  But the more Barack Obama talks, the more he seems to dissuade rather than persuade.  Recall the signature act of his presidency to date, ObamaCare.  The more Obama has attempted to sell it both before and after its enactment, the less popular it has become.

Today, we’re witnessing that same lack of persuasive skill with regard to the question of military intervention in Syria.  According to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey released this morning, public opinion on intervention has reversed in the past two weeks, from 50% to 44% in favor to 51% to 44% opposed:

At the end of August, and NBC News poll found that half of Americans backed a limited set of airstrikes to destroy Syrian military units in response to an alleged government-directed gas attack that killed more than 1,400 civilians.  In less than two weeks since then, support for a limited attack dropped to 44%, the new poll found.  ‘As the public hears more information, they are coming down on the side of ‘don’t do it,” said Bill McInturff, a Republican pollster who conducted the survey with Democratic pollsters Fred Yang and Peter Hart.”

I was asked yesterday on Cam & Company on NRA News whether Obama can recover politically from his current debacle.  Given his performance to date in the art of persuasion, that prospect certainly doesn’t appear likely.