The consensus among American voters is Barack Obama is better at campaigning for the job than at doing the job, according to a Fox News poll released Thursday. In addition, half of voters say the Obama administration doesn’t “get it.”

As the president’s approval rating remains in the high forties, the poll finds that voters by a wide 62 to 17 percent margin think Obama is better at campaigning than at governing.

It isn’t surprising most Republicans feel this way (83 percent). What may surprise the White House is that nearly seven out of 10 independents say they feel the president is better at campaigning than governing, and so do more Democrats (albeit by a thin 6 percentage-point edge). More than one out of five Democrats was unable to choose between campaigning and governing and volunteered a “both” response (22 percent).

I don’t think there’s anything particularly surprising about these result the Obama Administration really hasn’t made transition from campaigning to governing. This lack of leadership is one of the principle reasons he’s had so much difficultly getting his health care reform agenda through Congress.

California lawmakers have a history of trying to keep the state’s air and waters clean. Now they’re tackling language.

The state Assembly is scheduled to vote on a resolution Thursday calling for a statewide “Cuss Free Week,” to occur annually during the first week of March. If approved, it would go to the state Senate for a final vote on Monday.

The rest of next week will be officially swear-word free if both houses approve the resolution.

The resolution by Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-La Canada Flintridge, was inspired by a South Pasadena teenager, McKay Hatch, who founded a No Cussing Club at his junior high school in 2007. His efforts to stamp out profanity have generated international attention, with 35,000 members joining the No Cussing Club’s Web site.

That’s right, I said crap… That’s what this resolution is. It’s a waste of time that distracts from the urgent budget issues Governor Schwarzenegger and the legislature need to address.

Voter unhappiness with Congress has reached the highest level ever recorded by Rasmussen Reports as 71% now say the legislature is doing a poor job.

That’s up ten points from the previous high of 61% reached a month ago.

Only 10% of voters say Congress is doing a good or excellent job.

Nearly half of Democratic voters (48%) now give Congress a poor rating, up 17 points since January. The vast majority of Republicans and voters not affiliated with either party also give Congress poor ratings.

Seventy percent (70%) of voters say Congress has not passed any legislation that would significantly improve life for Americans, up 10 points over the past month and the highest level of dissatisfaction measured in regular tracking in over three years. Only 15% say Congress has passed such legislation.

Forty percent (40%) of voters nationwide now say it is at least somewhat likely Congress will seriously address the most important issues facing the nation. That’s down from 59% last March. Only 9% say it is Very Likely Congress will address these issues.

Heh, heck of a job there Harry, Nancy… Keep doing what you’re doing.

The number of new claims for unemployment benefits jumped unexpectedly last week as heavy snows caused layoffs to rise.

In addition, many state agencies in the mid-Atlantic and New England regions that process the claims were closed due to the storms and are now clearing out backlogs, a Labor Department analyst said.

The department said Thursday that first-time claims for unemployment insurance rose by 22,000 to a seasonally adjusted 496,000. Wall Street analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a drop to 455,000.

Bad weather can cause job losses in construction and other industries sensitive to weather.

I’m sorry but I have to ask… Unexpectedly by whom???

JWF sums things up nicely:

It’s comical how every story about job losses always calls it unexpected, with pointy-headed experts baffled by the news. Maybe someone can ask Professor Obama about this grim news today during his six-hour lecture to Republicans.

Um, yeah, I’d pay money to see that!

Anyway, it’s not the weather that’s driving these new jobless claims it’s the slumping consumer confidence and  home prices coupled with the Millions of Americans who are underwater on their mortgages… roughly 300,000 of them are facing foreclosure each month. Americans simply don’t have the discretionary capital to invest or consume they they used to. Bottom line we’re not going to see anything resembling a meaningful recovery until that changes.

Related

• US Jan mass layoffs edge up on weak manufacturing – Reuters
• Read His Lips: Obama Calls for Increasing Payroll Taxes on ‘Households’ Earning Less Than $250,000 Per Year – CNSNews.com
• Obama May Prohibit Home-Loan Foreclosures Without HAMP Review – Bloomberg.com

From the London Times:

Washington refused to endorse British claims to sovereignty over the Falkland Islands yesterday as the diplomatic row over oil drilling in the South Atlantic intensified in London, Buenos Aires and at the UN.

Despite Britain’s close alliance with the US, the Obama Administration is determined not to be drawn into the issue. It has also declined to back Britain’s claim that oil exploration near the islands is sanctioned by international law, saying that the dispute is strictly a bilateral issue…

~ ~ ~

Senior US officials insisted that Washington’s position on the Falklands was one of longstanding neutrality. This is in stark contrast to the public backing and vital intelligence offered by President Reagan to Margaret Thatcher once she had made the decision to recover the islands by force in 1982.

“We are aware not only of the current situation but also of the history, but our position remains one of neutrality,” a State Department spokesman told The Times. “The US recognises de facto UK administration of the islands but takes no position on the sovereignty claims of either party.”

This administrations actions are sad and shameful thing particularly when you contrast them with in unconditional support President Ronald Reagan offered to Margaret Thatcher in 1982 or that Prime Minister Tony Blair provided George W. Bush in the War on Terror. As Toby Young notes in the Daily Telegraph:

For this alliance to survive, both countries must recognise their obligations and, from time to time, that involves one of us setting aside more localised concerns for the sake of the cause. Tony Blair would have preferred it if President Bush had been prepared to wait for a second UN resolution before launching the invasion of Iraq, but he decided that Britain should follow America into battle nevertheless. He recognised that the preservation of the Atlantic alliance had to be prioritised above all else, both for our sake and the sake of the world.

In return, we naturally expect America to side with us when it comes to our own territorial disputes — and this element of quid pro quo was recognised by Ronald Reagan when he backed Margaret Thatcher in the Falklands War. It wasn’t in America’s regional interests to side with us, but Reagan knew the terms of the deal: It was your country, right or wrong. You don’t abandon your closest ally in her hour of need.

So it is truly shocking that Barack Obama has decided to disregard our shared history and insist that we have to fight this battle on our own. Does Britain’s friendship really mean so little to him? Do the sacrifices Britain has made in defence of the Atlantic alliance count for nought? Who does he think will replace us as America’s steadfast ally when she finds herself embroiled in a territorial dispute of her own — possibly with the very same motley crew of Latin American rabble rousers? Spain? Italy? France? Good luck with that, Mr President.

Shame on you , Mr. President, shame. This Administration, in the name of neutrality, has chosen to side with the  aggressive, corrupt Argentine government of Christina Fernandez de Kirchner… A government that is being supported and encouraged by Hugo Chavez and that is threatening to blockade British territory.

We can not let this outrage stand. Call the White House, call your Senators, call your Representatives and tell them that We The People will not allow this administration to throw away the United State’s longstanding special relationship with our closest ally.

Related

• Trouble Brewing in South Atlantic Over Control of Falklands – Ray Walser, The Heritage Foundation
• Obama votes present on whether the Falklands belong to Britain – AllahPundit, Hot Air

The number of U.S. workers filing new applications for unemployment insurance unexpectedly surged last week, while producer prices increased sharply in January, raising potential hurdles for the economic recovery.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 31,000 to 473,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. That compared to market expectations for 430,000.

Another report from the department showed prices paid at the farm and factory gate rose a faster than expected 1.4 percent from December after a 0.4 percent gain in December, as higher gasoline prices and unusually cold temperatures helped boost energy costs.

To be honest I’m more concerned the sharp rise in producer prices than I am about the increase in new unemployment claims. In short, inflation is starting to rear its ugly head; frankly I think we’re head for a dead cat bounce rather than a recovery. What say you?

Related

• Fed Raises Discount Rate Quarter Percentage Point – Wall Street Journal
• U.S. stock futures fall as economic data disappoints – MarketWatch.com
• Jobless Claims in U.S. Rose Last Week to 473,000 – Bloomberg.com
• Leading Economic Index in U.S. Increased 0.3% in January – Bloomberg.com
• Obama ‘Agnostic’ on Deficit Cuts, Won’t Prejudge Tax Increases – Business Week
• Dear Mr. President: Why We Are Not Hiring – C. Edmund Wright, American Thinker

With his fraud lawsuit last week against Bank of America, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has joined the long queue of politicians blaming bankers as the chief culprits in creating the financial panic and recession. We dealt with the merits of those BofA charges on Saturday, but that isn’t the end of this story. There’s also the not so small matter of Mr. Cuomo’s own role in promoting policies that fed the housing mania and set the stage for the meltdown.

Before he pursued statewide office in New York, Andrew Cuomo was Secretary of Housing and Urban Development during Bill Clinton’s second term. And lest you think his tenure is forgotten, the HUD Web site has an instructive item in its Archives section.

Entitled, “Highlights of HUD Accomplishments 1997-1999,” the document chronicles the “accomplishments under the leadership of Secretary Andrew Cuomo, who took office in January 1997.”

HUD’s Web visitors learn that in 1999 “Secretary Cuomo established new Affordable Housing Goals requiring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—two government sponsored enterprises involved in housing finance—to buy $2.4 trillion in mortgages in the next 10 years. This will mean new affordable housing for about 28.1 million low- and moderate-income families. The historic action raised the required percentage of mortgage loans for low- and moderate-income families that the companies must buy from the current 42 percent of their total purchases to a new high of 50 percent—a 19 percent increase—in the year 2001.”

It’s a sign of Washington’s continuing failure to examine its own failures that HUD still views such a policy as an “accomplishment.” It’s as if the Pentagon described Pearl Harbor as a victory.

The Village Voice has much more on Mr. Cuomo’s actions at HUD here.

Bottom line the Federal Government and Federal Reserve are every bit as culpable as bankers are in creating this mess… Andrew Cuomo is just one of several prominent political figures who has to answer for his role his roll in creating the financial crisis. Unfortunately, I doubt Washington’s policy makers will ever admit to their culpability, it’s much easier to demonize and scapegoat Wall Street’s greedy bankers.

Peter Schweizer does a good of laying the anatomy of the crisis in Architects of Ruin: How big government liberals wrecked the global economy—and how they will do it again if no one stops them. If you haven’t read it, I suggest picking up a copy.

Democratic Representative John Murtha, the chairman of the House of Representatives defense appropriations subcommittee who exercised enormous influence on defense issues, died on Monday.

Murtha, 77, died peacefully at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington with his family by his side, a statement from his office said. He had been hospitalized recently with a gallbladder problem.

As the top Democrat on the House panel that oversaw defense appropriations, Murtha wielded big clout in Congress, making decisions affecting billions of dollars in defense-related spending.

The Pennsylvanian was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in February 1974. He was a former Marine and veteran of the Vietnam war.

It’s bad form to speak ill of the dead so I’ll just say, Godspeed Congressman, rest in peace.

Related

• Rep. Murtha Dead at 77 – FoxNews.com
• John Murtha dies, special election looms – Chris Cillizza, The Washington Post
• Rep. Murtha Dies – Mike Memoli, Real Clear Politics
• Murtha dead at 77 – Hot Air
  

Related

• Third party is the wrong party for Tea Partiers – Mark Tapscott, Washington Examiner
• Nashville Shows Tea Party Is America’s Third Great Awakening – Glenn Reynolds, Washington Examiner
• Breitbart, Farah argue Birtherism at Tea Party convention – Ed Morrissey, Hot Air

Oh boy…

(H/T: LauraW @ AoSHQ)