US PRESIDENT Barack Obama's signing of the healthcare Bill has achieved the political "bump" Democrats had predicted. A USA Today/Gallup poll published yesterday showed 49 per cent of Americans now consider the reform "a good thing", compared to 40 per cent who said it was negative.
"The political tides shifted with the passage of the Bill," White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer told USA Today. "It's easy to demonise something large and complex in theory; harder when it becomes law."
A more disturbing opinion poll published yesterday by Harris Interactive tested the contention of a new book, Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking Americaby John Avalon, that large numbers of Americans hold extreme views about Mr Obama.
Harris Interactive found huge differences between what Republicans and Democrats believe. In particular, 67 per cent of Republicans believe Mr Obama is a socialist, 57 per cent believe he is a Muslim, 38 per cent say he “is doing many of the things that Hitler did”, and 24 per cent say “he may be the Antichrist”.
Jim DeMint, the senator from South Carolina who predicted healthcare would be Mr Obama’s “Waterloo”, has had to eat his words. Passage of the Bill was Waterloo for Mr DeMint, wrote David Frum, a former speechwriter for George W Bush.
Gallup also reported that Mr Obama’s job approval rating has risen to 51 per cent, compared to 43 per cent who disapprove. The poll reversed a CNN survey conducted just before the House vote, which found 51 per cent disapproved and 46 per cent approving.
Meanwhile, US vice-president Joe Biden has proved a small embarrassment to the administration. “This is a big f***ing deal,” Mr Biden whispered to Mr Obama during the White House signing ceremony on Tuesday.
The words were not audible to the audience in the East Room, but were picked up by an open microphone and subsequently amplified and broadcast on television, with images clearly showing the president’s face fall.
Within minutes, T-shirts bearing the slogan “This is a Big F***ing Deal” went on sale on the internet. Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, posted a Twitter message saying, “And yes, Mr Vice-President, you’re right.”
Noting that the sentence was seven syllables long, a New York radio station asked for more “Biden Haikus”, while the No Cussing Club, founded by a California schoolboy, protested.
Australians expressed their dissatisfaction that the vote led Mr Obama to postpone his visit. At Horsley Park in Sydney, Austral Bricks built a 100sq m mural of the president’s face with the slogan “Where the bloody hell are ya?”.
The healthcare victory has Republicans reassessing strategy. They yesterday continued a “vote-a-rama” in the Senate, attempting to delay passage of the 150-page “fix-it” reconciliation Bill. For example, senator Tom Coburn proposed an amendment “prohibiting coverage of Viagra for child molesters and rapists”. If changes are made, the text will have to return to the House.
Some Republican lawmakers, like senator Lindsey Graham, say they will refuse to co-operate in any way with Democrats who “poisoned the well” by pushing through healthcare.
But others are now considering voting with the Democrats on financial regulation – to avoid appearing to side with bankers – and education reform, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In a more sinister development, bricks have been thrown through the windows of Democratic Party offices in at least four states.
Mike Vanderboegh, a former militia leader from Alabama, claimed credit for the vandalism, after posting a blog exhorting “sons of liberty” to “Break their windows. Break them now . . . It is more humane than shooting them in self-defence.”