Apologies if “bounce” is too flippant a word for this , but it’s often the right word – a military action begins against an unpopular opponent of the United States, and voters start to rally around the commander-in-chief. Not this time. Gallup has Obama dipping to 44 percent approval since the NFZ began. Rasmussen and CNN have him where he was before the NFZ – at 46 percent and right above 50 percent, respectively.
We can point the finger at two factors.
1) Partisan Republican carping about the start of the NFZ. There has been absolutely no cover from probably 2012 GOP candidates, who have been calling Obama weak; there’s been a positive shrug from Congress.
2) Everyone’s out of town. The president, not needing to wrangle any votes to continue the operation, is out of the country. Members of Congress are back in their districts.
