Obama admits to what most of us already knew

Great headline from the AP: Obama says he has no Illinois records. Reminds me of the Denver Post’s cartoonist Mike Keefe’s cartoon about Obama back on October 26, 2006.

But while in the US Senate, as I’ve noted before, he has a soldily liberal record, contrary to the mediots’ attempts at painting him as a “moderate.”

And from that, we go from no records and liberal records, to a disappointing record – for the 110th Congress:

Princeton, NJ — Amidst a swirl of public dissatisfaction about the Iraq war, the economy, government corruption, and with President Bush more generally, Americans went to the polls in November 2006 and voted enough Republicans out of office to give the Democrats majority control of Congress. A year later, Americans are as negative about the job Congress is doing as they were leading up to the 2006 midterm elections. And according to recent Gallup polling, Americans are distinctly negative about the Democrats’ handling of several front-burner policy issues.

The latest Gallup Panel survey, conducted Oct. 25-28, 2007, asked Americans to say whether they are “pleased” “neutral” “disappointed” or “angry” about the way the Democrats in Congress have been dealing with seven major issues confronting the nation.

Overall, relatively few Americans are pleased with the Democrats’ performance on any of them. This ranges from 7% for the federal budget deficit to 17% for terrorism. Between 12% and 26% say they are angry about the issues. However, most Americans fall in between, with the plurality generally saying they are disappointed with congressional Democrats’ performance on each.

I suspect a poll in Islamofascist strongholds would yield quite different results, but I digress …

Mark Tapscott takes an in-depth look at the poll, and sees an opportunity for Republicans to press the conservative message:

But before Republicans get too happy about seeing the Democrats abysmal failure, I suggest the root of these numbers isn’t simply a dissatisfaction with policy failures, but rather an indication of a deeper disappointment borne of the widespread failure of Big Government.

We have created a federal Leviathan that promises to deliver something for everybody, with its regulations and taxation directing virtually every corner of daily life. There is no way any government can do that, so failures are inevitable. But over a period of time, as the failures in particular arenas multiply, there comes a point when the many specific failures merge into one general mood of dissatisfaction.

Within the next decade, as the seriousness of the entitlement crisis becomes more evident, it is likely that the general dissatisfaction with government that promises everything and delivers nothing but higher taxes, more waste and policy paralysis is going to grow more intense and deeper rooted.

This widespread dissatisfaction with the inability of Big Government to deliver on its promises presents conservatives with an historic opportunity to refocus public debate to redefine what is expected of government, to slim it down to more manageable proportions so that it can deliver on the most important things.

Count me in.

Update: And speaking of disappointing …