Obama's Lead: A Weak Republican Nominee Dragged Down By a Radical GOP

The month of June 2012–only 30 days long–has seemed like an eternity in politics. But we got to the end of the month right where we were when we started the month–with President Obama calmly leading the nation and confidently leading the 2012 race for the White House.

What started with a jobs report that was "devastating" to the president's re-election hopes ended with as big a victory as Barack Obama could have hoped for from the United States Supreme Court on the Affordable Care Act. And in between, we had the Wisconsin recall failure, deterioration of the economic situation in Europe, hearings on fast and furious and a resurgent Republican Party steaming ahead strong in their belief that however weak their nominee is, Mitt Romney might actually be able to beat Barack Obama in November.

But that was all before the President painted Mitt Romney and the right wing into a tight political corner with his Executive Order ending deportation of certain immigrants brought to America as children - followed two weeks later by the Supreme Court, with right wing darling Chief Justice John Roberts, appointed by right wing darling George W. Bush, coming down solidly on the side of reform - a reform designed by Mitt Romney, repudiated by Mitt Romney, and passed, signed and implemented by Barack Obama.

And through all this, polls near the end of the month showed a remarkably stable White House race, with Obama maintaining a small lead nationally of 3-4 points, while holding similar or somewhat larger leads in almost every battleground state including the former big three - Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. I say former because I no longer believe these three big swing states maintain their status as the states that will decide the presidency in 2012. But more on that in a later post.

What to make of all this? Why did all the bad news of June not result in a Romney lead and a collapse in the president's approval numbers? How can a president who the pundits like to portray as incredibly weak going into re-election be doing so well?

Because most Americans like the guy. And we understand how big a mess this country was in when he took office. We also give him credit for working through this country's problems with a serious focus not seen in the Oval Office in the previous administration. We know this president does big things. And he does them well, without excitement and drama. We want him, for our sake, to succeed. On the other hand, most right wing Tea Party Republicans want him to fail - and the country with him - just so they can win a political victory. Way to believe in America.

We also understand the violent, angry nature of the opposition against him. We've all seen the angry, racist tweets. The racist cartoons and pictures. The Birthers and the buffoons like Donald Trump. The crass remarks and shouts from angry right wingers who think they alone have the right to govern this nation. We remember Congressman Joe "You Lie" Wilson's disrespect.

We remember Sarah Palin's ridiculous claims about the president's initiatives (death panels) and Rick Santorum's claim that Obama is a snob because he wants Americans to be educated. We remember the rude reporter shouting questions over the President as he announced his decision on immigration. We also remember that on each occasion that he has had to repudiate the extremists in his own party, Mitt Romney has failed to do so. Make no mistake about it–Mitt Romney is no leader.

The poisionous, virulent nature of the right wing attack on Barack Obama is a disgrace that no chief executive should be subjected to and it is unprecedented. But as it turns out, the President is not the only victim of the increasingly violent right wing opposition.

Within minutes of the United States Supreme Court's ruling that upheld the Affordable Care Act in its entirety, the Republican recriminations began. Tweets from Tea Partiers and other right wing conservatives bashed Chief Justice John Roberts. Today, he is darling no longer. He was called names and accused of being a traitor to his cause. He was accused of abandoning conservative principle and siding with the big bad liberals hell bent on destroying America. Some of the right wing nuts when to far as to demand his impeachment.

All for doing what he thought was right. It seems that the right wing in this country doesn't care what anyone else thinks is right anymore. There is no way except theirs. They are right and they will prevail by whatever means necessary. Including revolution, as some tweets suggested.

Sen. Rand Paul went so far as to suggest that just because the Supreme Court said the Act was Constitutional doesn't mean it is so. Huh? Has this man even read the Constitution? Does he really fail to understand that when the Supreme Court rules, that's the final word? What does he not get about the word Supreme?

The right wing opposition seems to no longer believe in the rule of law. They only believe in what they think is right and to heck with the rest of us. They don't seem to remember that we live in a democracy.

We respect the rule of law, the outcome of an election and the word of the courts regardless of whether they come down on our side or not. Increasingly, however, on the right, this seems not to be the case. The right wing demands judicial restraint - but when a majority of the Supreme Court, led by their own conservative chief justice, acts in a non-activist manner, as it did with health care, the right wing response is impeachment!

That's the GOP in the 21st Century - radical and out of touch, with policies stuck in a bygone era. With friends like these, Mitt Romney doesn't need enemies.