John Davis Consulting

President Kasich Most Likely to Succeed where President Obama Failed; the United States of America

March 31, 2016          Vol. IX, No. 5             10:13 am

Obama’s Regret

In the beginning, President Barack Obama intended to unite Blue State Democrats and Red State Republicans in an all-out assault on the nation’s problems. He didn’t. He didn’t because national unity was never as important as ideological pride.

Now, in the final months of his administration, the nation is bitterly divided; the federal government hopelessly dysfunctional. Debilitating problems are compounded daily by inaction.

The Democratic president and his allies have said either accept the liberal alternative or we will circumvent Congress with executive orders. The Republican Congress and their allies have insisted either accept the conservative solution or we will shut down the government.

And so, we have become the house divided that President Lincoln cautioned against and President Obama intended to avoid. “It’s one of the few regrets of my presidency,” Obama said during his January 13, 2016, State of the Union Address, “that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better.”

It wasn’t supposed to end this way.

On January 3, 2005, the cover of Newsweek magazine featured a picture of newly-elected U.S. Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama, with the title, Seeing Purple: A Rising Star Who Wants to Get beyond Blue Versus Red.

The story was about how an unknown Illinois state senator with a funny name inspired tens of millions of Americans with a nationally televised keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004. His message was one of hope that Blue State Democrats and Red State Republicans could work together to solve the nation’s problems.

“There is not a liberal America and a conservative America — there is the United States of America,” Obama implored as Democrats cheered, “There is not a black America and a white America and Latino America and Asian America — there’s the United States of America.”

But something happened to that rising star who dreamed of leading the country beyond blue versus red into an era of collaborative problem-solving. On January 31, 2008, the National Journal published its ratings of members of Congress, disclosing that the #1 most liberal member of the U.S. Senate was Barack Obama. Ideological pride had obscured his vision of a united America.

Now, eleven years after the speech that launched his presidential aspirations, President Obama finds himself face to face with the realization that his failure to unite the country has severely limited his legacy. His polarizing leadership style is why voters gave Republicans majorities in the U.S. Senate and House, and why most state capitals have become hotbeds of conservative activism.

Republicans are no better

Of course, Republicans have contributed their fair share to the worsening of the rancor and suspicion between the parties. On October 23, 2010, then-U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, stated in an interview with the National Journal, “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one term president.”

U.S. House Republicans have shown no respect for diversity of opinion in America. Like Obama, ideological pride has kept them from collaborative problem solving. King Solomon was right when he wrote in Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” A haughty liberal President; haughty Congressional conservatives. A fall.

Ideological haughtiness is why most of the major problems faced by the United States at the beginning of the Obama administration are for all practical purposes the same as the problems we face today. Government is still rigged by the politically influential; trade deficits are still counted in the hundreds of billions, new 21st century economic superpowers are integrating their economies around the world, becoming less and less dependent on the United States consumer.

The national debt has doubled to over $19 trillion under President Obama, healthcare funding is chaotic, immigration policy is unenforceable and terrorism continues to creep closer to home. Saddest of all, 1-in-6 Americans live in poverty; 45 million are on food stamps. The dignity of employment has given way to a lifetime of dependency on government.

Who can unite the country?

The 2016 presidential race offers American voters the single most influential opportunity to end the rancor and suspicion between the parties and begin a new era of leaders who will swallow their ideological pride and work together to solve the nation’s problems. Only one candidate still in the running has exemplified the personal character and leadership style to unite the country, and that candidate is John Kasich, Governor of Ohio.

Hillary Clinton could not unite the country. On October 13, 2015, Clinton told Anderson Cooper during the CNN Presidential Debate that the enemy she was proudest of was Republicans. She would be a third Obama term. Just another polarizing, haughty liberal president.

Clinton has a -11 net favorable opinion in Gallup’s March 30, 2016 study of the views Americans have of the leading presidential contenders. Comparatively, Bernie Sanders has greater potential to be a unifying force in America than Clinton. The new Gallup study shows Sanders with a +10 net favorable rating. But conservatives would never unite behind a socialist.

Ted Cruz could not unite the country. He is the consummate ideologically haughty conservative who has no respect for diversity of opinion in the United States. If Cruz were to become president in 2016, voters would give both houses of Congress to the Democrats in 2018.

Cruz has a -16 net favorable opinion in the March 30, 2016 Gallup study. In today’s Real Clear Politics matchup’s of potential General Election competitors, Ted Cruz would lose to Clinton and Sanders.

Donald Trump could not unite the country. He has managed to alienate most of America’s women and minorities with offensive statements, personal views and conduct and that clearly disqualify him from any further consideration.

Trump has a -35 net favorable opinion in the March 30, 2016 Gallup study. A whopping 65% of all Americans have an unfavorable opinion of Donald Trump. A new CNN poll released last Thursday, March 24, 2016, found that 73% of registered female voters in the United States have an unfavorable view of Trump. Trump has no chance of winning. According to Real Clear Politics, Trump would lose to Clinton by 11 points and Sanders by 17 points this fall.

John Kasich could unite the country. Gallup’s new study of presidential contenders has Kasich with a net favorable opinion among Americans of +19 points, the highest of any candidate. But the best indicator of Kasich’s potential to unite the country can be found in CBS News exit polls the day he won 86 of 88 counties in his 2014 campaign for reelection as Governor of Ohio.

Republican Governor John Kasich, in a state carried twice by President Obama, won the backing of 60% of female voters, 56% of 18-to-29-year-old voters, 26% of African-American voters, 25% of Democrats, 95% of Republicans, 69% of Independents, and 53% of union households.

President Barack Obama intended to unite Blue State Democrats and Red State Republicans in an all-out assault on the nation’s problems. He didn’t. National unity was never as important as ideological pride.

President Kasich is the most likely to succeed where President Obama failed; the United States of America.

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