Posted 6:44 AM by steve

If all you heard about a movie were positive reviews you would probably have a somewhat positive view of the movie... and even if you hadn't seen the movie yourself. If all you heard about a certain ballplayer were raves from his fans you would probably have a somewhat positive view of that player... and even if you hadn't seen the player in action and even if you hadn't taken the time to review his statistics for yourself.

This is a completely natural and understandable situation. Public perception is driven more by the views of those one hears from than by the in-depth analysis one makes on their own. On subjects large and small, the public has outsourced their analysis to others, saving themselves the trouble of figuring things out for themselves. And all things being equal, when people only hear one side of a story, they're going to in some way adopt those views as their own.

This is why it isn't a huge surprise that Obama is enjoying high ratings right now as he is benefiting from an awful lot of positive press coming from his cheerleaders among the MSM.

There is a weak spot that can be exploited by Obama's opponents. Views that are shaped by the opinions of others are less solid than views one arrives at after figuring things out for oneself; people are more apt to change their minds when presented with information that runs counter to the information they've previously been exposed to. Put another way, Obama's support is a mile wide and an inch deep.

With Obama, the public hasn't done the digging themselves. They haven't looked at the details of what he is doing and what that is likely to mean for themselves, their family and the country as a whole. They haven't gone to the movie to see it for themselves, they haven't dug up years of statistics and watched game films of an athlete to figure out whether they agree with the conventional wisdom.

And the key to getting people to change their minds is to enter some contrary viewpoints into the mix. The GOP leadership has been conspicuously absent from the fight; what little fighting the GOP has done has been among themselves. And when they've tried to counter Obama, their efforts have been flat, ineffective and at times, downright silly.

An example lies with the current debate over the CIA's interrogation tactics. Congress and Obama are pondering holding additional hearings and prosecuting those involved in questioning terrorists.

And what has the GOP's response been? Crickets.

Why hasn't the GOP been out front in demanding that Congressional Democrats and Obama stop dwelling in the past? Why hasn't the GOP leadership been in front of cameras demanding to know why, in such difficult economic times, when 90% of America cites the economy as a big problem, Obama and Congressional Democrats aren't spending ALL of their time on helping fix the economy, why they're spending even ten minutes a day on something that happened years ago? Why hasn't the GOP leadership been blasting Obama and Congressional Democrats for wasting time going after people who thought they were (and were in fact) helping their country stay safe from terrorist attack?

Another target for the GOP is the Obama Administration's refusal to let banks repay the bailout money they took last year. While the public doesn't - and won't - immerse itself into the details of the program, with deficits sky high, the idea that Obama is keeping banks from sending billions of dollars to the government is - on the surface - ripe for ridicule. Normal taxpayers don't get a pass on sending in the money they owe. Credit card and mortgage companies don't refuse to take money from those who owe them, so why is the federal government not doing everything possible to encourage banks to pay the money they owe? Sure, Obama can counter with all sorts of financial mutterings, but to the average American, it will sure seem silly that Obama is keeping banks from paying their debts.

Despite Obama's (currently) high rankings, he is big time vulnerable. The GOP can do a lot to whittle away at his support by starting to introduce an element of doubt in the minds of voters... but they need to do so properly, by focusing attention where he is weak... and they need to do so quickly, before the public takes opinions that has so far been shaped by surrogates and adopts them as their own. For just as with sports and movies, once someone decides they really like a movie or a particular athlete, there isn't much anyone can do to shake that. The GOP still can mount an effective challenge to Obama but they have to stop waiting.