In exactly 100 days, American voters will cast their ballots in the mid-term elections.  In a weird way, it is hard to believe that we have almost reached the second anniversary of the Barrack Obama presidency. With the ever increasing polarization of the US political sphere, it is harder to gauge the attitude of Americans towards their Commander-in-Chief.

I’ve never been one to hide my disappointment with the failures of Barrack Obama. I reluctantly bought into the rhetoric of hope, and change, and the failure to achieve any meaningful progress has left me displeased at the current direction of the United States. I still wish Obama would close Guantanamo Bay, end extra-judicial military tribunals, pull out of the Middle East, and dismantle the domestic security apparatus built under Bush II.  I still believe that the best course for the United States is the dispassionate merchant advocated by George Washington in his farewell address. A nation willing to protect its own security, but focusing on the expansion of commercial relationships with outside states. The rapid expansion of the US security bureaucracy is acting as a previously unforeseen trade barrier with the outside world, and it is costing the United States jobs it can ill afford to lose.

The Rasmussen Reports offer a day to day breakdown of presidential approval ratings, and the trend is not in Obama’s favour. A solid 45% strongly disapprove of the direction of the country, with a mere 25% strongly approving. While Obama’s approval rating has not yet fallen below 40%, the last time more people approved than disapproved of Obama can be found back in November 2009. The trend may be the friend of the market, but it sure as heck isn’t the friend of Obama. The release of previously classified Afghanistan papers to wiki-leaks paints a rather unpleasant picture of the situation on the ground.

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