Will Obama See A "War Bounce"? Nah...

Right or wrong, most Americans usually feel a swell of patriotism when the missiles fly and our boys go off to do battle in some far-away, godforsaken nation, and ascribe that swelling of pride to the commander in chief. Remember Bush I and his near 90% approval rating during Gulf War I: The Prequel? Well, most Americans didn't remember it either on Election Day 1992, but that's not the point. The point was he seemed unstoppable, for a while....

So what about Barack Obama? Certainly launching a "liberal war", to protect the Libyan people against their government, is a noble goal, and without an evil Republican in the White House, the media is not likely to push the "war for oil" angle, no matter how much of the black goo lies underneath Libyan sands. If the war remains a Bosnia-type air-only war, it is unlikely many Americans will get killed, thus ensuring the dreaded "body bag" pictures (you know, the ones the media were forbidden to take by the Bush administration - another policy that Obama will surely follow).

But this blog believes Obama will see little bounce - save for the dead-cat variety - from the "Libyan War". The moment to paint a picture of an involved commander-in-chief is now, with severe news conferences mixed with photos of a somber looking president looking off in the distance, with anguished concern over the boys overseas...

We're not getting those pictures - despite the media's overwhelming desire to provide them - because Obama decided to get our of town right after "declaring" war. So instead we get pictures of the Obamas enjoying yet another family vacation while the world burns:

By the time he returns, events will have spun out of his control, for better or worse. And at the microphone, whether taking credit or assigning blame, Americans will know, first and foremost, that unlike George W. Bush, their current president ran away when the mantle of Commander-in-Chief needed to be donned.

So no bounce for you, Baracky. Aside from the "dead-cat" variety, because your numbers are so shockingly low as it is, well.....as they say, drop a dead cat off a rooftop, and he'll bounce. But he'll still be (politically) dead:

Before the Japanese earthquake and resulting nuclear crisis, a majority of Americans -- 55% -- said President Obama is doing a good job of protecting the nation's environment. At the same time, 55% said he is doing a poor job of making America prosperous and, by 47% to 41%, Americans said he is doing a poor rather than a good job of improving the nation's energy policy.

Alas for Barack, save for the psychotic few, we very rarely vote based on who's keeping the trees green...