http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100902/us_time/08599201562900
How Barack Obama Became Mr. Unpopular
Time.com
By MICHAEL SCHERER Michael Scherer – 1 hr 27 mins ago
The Barack Obama that most Hoosiers remember voting for can still be found on YouTube. He stands before a cheering Elkhart high school gymnasium in August 2008, tireless, aspirational, promising a new America of jobs and hope. "We can choose another future," says the newcomer with the funny name. "So I ask you to join me."
Today that view of Obama is harder to find in Indiana. A couple of weeks back and a dozen miles west of Elkhart, hundreds gathered in another school gym - except this time it was for a job fair. With the local unemployment rate above 12% and rising again this summer, about a third of the employer display tables stood empty. Julie Griffin, who voted for Obama in '08, sat down at the room's edge, well dressed and discouraged. After 23 years as a payroll administrator at a local RV plant, she got laid off 18 months ago. "Really, what has he been doing?" she said when I asked about Obama's efforts to help people like her. "I guess I don't know what he is doing." (See TIME's 2008 Person of the Year: Barack Obama.)
Across the gym floor, Joe Donnelly, Elkhart's pro-life, pro-gun Democratic Congressman, worked the crowd. He was part of the moderate wave that won Congress for Nancy Pelosi in '06, and he was re-elected with 67% of the vote while campaigning for Obama in '08. The President has since returned to the region three times, but Donnelly is nonetheless fighting for his political life. In a recent television ad, an unflattering photo of Obama and Pelosi flashes while Donnelly condemns "the Washington crowd." This is basically a Democratic campaign slogan now: Don't blame me for Obama and Pelosi. "I'm not one of them," Donnelly told me when I caught up with him. "I'm one of us."
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Originally posted by zeeblebotReally, what has he been doing?" she said when I asked about Obama's efforts to help people like her. "I guess I don't know what he is doing."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100902/us_time/08599201562900
How Barack Obama Became Mr. Unpopular
Time.com
By MICHAEL SCHERER Michael Scherer – 1 hr 27 mins ago
The Barack Obama that most Hoosiers remember voting for can still be found on YouTube. He stands before a cheering Elkhart high school gymnasium in August 2008, tireless, aspirational, ...[text shortened]... ," Donnelly told me when I caught up with him. "I'm one of us."
...
but despite not having a clue about what Obama has been doing, I imagine she's already made up her mind about him.
If Donnelly had voted against Pelosi and with the Republicans, he would not be fighting for his political life. He can say he is not one of them all day long, but what's the difference if you are or if you aren't if you are going to vote with them anyhow.
Show you are not one of them by voting against them!
All the Republican has to do is make this point and Donnelly is dead.