Obama's job approval among the military is even worse than among civilians

Some ominous political news for President Obama the day after he chose Memorial Day to name a new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:

With just 15 months until the 2012 presidential election, Obama's overall job approval among Americans has sunk back down into the 40s.

But now a new poll of nearly a quarter-million Americans finds the commander-in-chief's job approval is even worse among members of the military, present and past.

A new Gallup poll finds that slightly more than a third of those military members (37%) approve of their commander's overall job from January of last year through April  2011.

This compares to Obama's 48% approval among nonmilitary Americans during the same period, Gallup reported.

The disapproval gap crosses all age groups. Men, especially veterans over 40, tend to disapprove of Obama more than women.

This would seem to indicate failure of this president's major public relations effort to be seen supporting veterans' affairs. On the Monday holiday the president did some business.

Obama announced he'd changed his mind about having Gen. Martin Dempsey (photo, right) as Army chief of staff. The veteran of two command cycles in Iraq had taken the top Army job less than two months ago.

Obama named him the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to replace Admiral Mike Mullen, who retires this fall. The president also visited Arlington National Cemetery for the traditional holiday wreath-laying and then got in some more golf.

The president, his new chairman and new secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, have some challenges to address. Although the emphasis in Iraq has been on drawdown, nearly 50,000 U.S. troops remain there.

In Afghanistan results have been mixed, despite Obama ordering two troop surges and putting Gen. David Petraeus in command. Petraeus, who has called Afghanistan progress "fragile," is returning to replace Panetta as head of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Then there is Obama's newest war in Libya, where allied air attacks have degraded Col. Kadafi's military, but not sufficiently to tip the balance to the untrained rebels.

Polls now show a majority of Americans do not feel the nation's longest war in Afghanistan has been worth the costs in money or lives.

Nearly 1,600 Americans have lost their lives there, including seven the other day in a single suicide bomb attack.

Last month a Gallup poll found only 41% of Americans approved of Obama's overal job performance as president. That is the fourth time he has reached that level of approval, the lowest he has incurred since taking office on Jan. 20, 2009, when his approval was 69%.

Related:

Gallup poll on standing of Republican presidential candidates

Killing Osama bin Laden: Why did Obama's poll boost sink so quickly?

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photos: Pete Souza / White House (Obama greets U.S. troops in Afghanistan); Master Sgt. Toby M. Valadie / USAF (Dempsey); Eric Draper / White House (President George W. Bush greets U.S. troops in South Korea).

George W. Bush in foul-up at Rangers game

Gee, these Chicago guys just won't lay off George W. Bush.

First President Obama and then, Monday night, the catcher for Obama's favorite team, the White Sox.

Adrian Beltre of the Rangers, Bush's longtime favorite team, was at bat in the bottom of the sixth. (See video below) He hit a 3-0 pitch, a high foul off toward the Rangers dugout, which also happens to be by team owners' box.

White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski ran over, reached around the screen and missed the catch, as spectators ducked for cover.

Only then did Pierzynski realize he was halfway into the lap of the 43rd president, who was laughing. So was former First Lady Laura Bush. Nolan Ryan, Rangers president, was sitting nearby and his wife, Ruth, can be seen covering her head

A chuckling Bush made some light-hearted comment and Pierzynski lingered for a comeback.

"I told him just 'cause he was the president doesn't mean I wouldn't jump on top of him," Pierzynski said later. Good luck with the Secret Service on that play.

It turned out great for the president, however. His team downed Obama's team 4-0.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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The secret lesson within Newt Gingrich's botched campaign launch

There's an important, hidden lesson in Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign kickoff for all the other Republican White House wannabes:

Take your time.

There's no rush.

It's only May.

Why set yourself up as a target any sooner than necessary? President Obama would be delighted to have Republicans fighting among themselves ASAP, so he can look calmer, more presidential by comparison, while his opponents try to prove their conservative bona fides to that raucous crowd on the right side.

Obama announced early to get going on his billion-dollar campaign fund, which is $255 million more than he needed last time as a nobody. A billion dollars is a really impressive number -- unless you're falling short, say, because of the economy or this time your less enthusiastic base is saying, "Yes, we won't."

Interestingly, only one month into his campaign Obama aides are already trying to walk back that billion-dollar boast and the first quarter's report, due out in early July, that was supposed to blow away everyone else's money haul.

The president will do two Boston fundraisers tonight after his ....

Why did Obama's Osama bin Laden poll boost get buried at sea so quickly too?

Well, the SEALs' Pakistan raid may have gone as planned.

But the anticipated boost for President Obama in the nation's job approval polls crashed like that lost helicopter on the Osama bin Laden compound wall.

History shows that presidents usually receive positive bounces in approval polls after major national security events, even bad ones like Pearl Harbor.

Obama's predecessor, President George W. Bush, experienced a 15-point bounce for seven weeks for capturing but not even killing Saddam Hussein. That dictator decision was left to the courts. After 9/11, Bush got a 35-point bounce that lasted two years.

Based on those historical patterns Public Opinion Strategies predicted that Obama would enjoy a 13-point bounce that would likely last into early October.

Not.

According to a new Gallup tracking poll just out, Obama's poll bounce was six points. It lasted two weeks.

And the Democrat is already back down to the ...

George W. Bush's reaction to Obama telling him of Bin Laden's death: 'Good call'

George W. Bush's reaction to Barack Obama's phone call earlier this month upon learning the news of Osama bin Laden's death in Pakistan was congratulatory but not joyful.

"Good call," Bush said when Obama telephoned him soon after the SEAL Team 6 raided the terrorist's million-dollar hideout in Abbottabad and shot and killed its target.

The former president was in Las Vegas on Wednesday speaking to hedge-fund managers when he revealed the conversation he had with Obama, ABC News reports.

"I was eating souffle at Rise Restaurant with Laura and two buddies," Bush explained, referring to his wife and friends, when he was notified that Obama wanted to speak with him about the mission that had just been accomplished. 

"I excused myself and went home to take the call," Bush said, according to an ABC contributor who was at the speech in Las Vegas. "Obama simply said 'Osama bin Laden is dead.' "

When asked about his reaction to the news, Bush said that he was "not overjoyed' to hear about the death of the Al Qaeda leader because the desire to hunt him down was not borne "out of hatred but to exact judgment."

Bush said that he met the SEAL Team 6 in Afghanistan and was impressed with them.

"I said, 'I hope you have everything you need. One guy said, 'We need your permission to go into Pakistan and kick ass,' " the 43rd president said.

RELATED:

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Osama bin Laden dead: George W. Bush and Tony Blair congratulate President Obama

George W. Bush passes on ground zero visit; radio host asks when SEALs will drop in on him

-- Tony Pierce
twitter.com/busblog

Photo: In this April 12, 2011 file photo, former president George W. Bush makes opening remarks at the The 4% Project, Driving Economic Growth conference at SMU, in Dallas. Credit: AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File

Sunday shows: Cheney, Donilon, Daniels, Rice, Kerry

ABC's "This Week" with Christiane Amanpour: Condoleeza Rice, Pakistan Ambssador Husain Haqqani and Obama security advisor Tom Donilon, with Liz Cheney, Tom Ricks, George Will, Jake Tapper, Martha Raddatz, Lawrence Wright and Pierre Thomas.

Bloomberg's "Political Capital" with Al Hunt: Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-Ind.).

CBS' "Face the Nation" with Bob Schieffer: Donald Rumsfeld and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.).

CNN Fareed Zakaria "GPS": Rice, Gen. Michael Hayden, Richard Haas, Haqqani and Jugnu Mohsin.

CNN's "State of the Union" with Candy Crowley: Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Imd.), Anita Dunn, Tom Davis and Donilon.

Fox News Channel "Fox News Sunday" with Chris Wallace: Former Vice President Dick Cheney and Donilon, with Bill Kristol, Paul Gigot, Mara Liasson and Juan Williams.

NBC's "Meet the Press" with David Gregory: Rudy Giuliani, Michael Chertoff and Hayden, with Bob Woodward, Doris Kearns Goodwin and Mike Murphy.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Office of the Vice President (Cheney)

George W. Bush passes on ground zero visit; radio host asks when SEALs will drop in on him

Former President George W. Bush will not be joining Barack Obama on Thursday at ground zero to honor those tragically killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Obama plans to lay a wreath at the site of where the Twin Towers once stood.

"President Bush will not be in attendance on Thursday," his spokesman, David Sherzer, said Wednesday. "He appreciated the invite, but has chosen in his post-presidency to remain largely out of the spotlight. He continues to celebrate with Americans this important victory in the war on terror."

Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy did accept Obama's invitation and will represent the 152 people with Connecticut ties who died on that infamous day.

"Gov. Malloy is appreciative that President Obama invited him to the wreath-laying ceremony at ground zero, and he is going there to represent the people in Connecticut who died on 9/11, as well as their family members and loved ones," the Democratic governor's spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan said. 

A different Malloy, progressive radio host Mike Malloy, raised eyebrows Wednesday when he asked his radio audience if George W. Bush should also be visited by the heroic Navy SEALs who killed Osama bin Laden.

Obama approval rating bumps by 9 percent after Bin Laden's death

How valuable is killing Osama bin Laden to an American president's approval rating? According to a recent poll, only about 9%.

A Pew/Washington Post poll conducted Monday in the wake of the death of the world's most sought-after terrorist found that 56% of those asked say they approve of the way Obama is handling his job as president while 38% disapprove. In April only 47% approved while 45% disapproved.

Obama isn't the only president to benefit in the polls due to the fall of a vilified leader. In 2003 when the U.S. captured Iraqi President Saddam Hussein hiding at the bottom of an 8-foot hole, President George W. Bush's approval ratings rose from 50% to 57%.

Among other questions, the poll asked 654 adults who deserved the credit for the killing of Bin Laden. Only a third of the total group said Obama deserved "a great deal of credit".

Meanwhile 31% of those polled who identify themselves as Republicans said Bush deserved "a great deal of credit" for the demise of Bin Laden.

RELATED:

Rush Limbaugh on Osama bin Laden's death: 'Thank God for President Obama'

With Osama bin Laden dead, Obama's job approval will jump this much (for this long)

Days after calling him stupid, Donald Trump praises Obama on Osama bin Laden's death

-- Tony Pierce
twitter.com/busblog

Photo: President Barack Obama smiles as he is seated with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the start of a Cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, May 3, 2011. Credit: AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

Geronimo: A century after his death, mysteriously tied to Bin Laden, the CIA and Skull and Bones

Geronimo was an Apache leader in the 19th century. More than 100 years after his death the Native American warrior's name is back in the news when it was revealed that "Geronimo" was the code name used for Osama Bin Laden while the U.S. special forces plotted to kill him.

Born in what would later become New Mexico in 1829, Geronimo spent many years successfully fighting Mexican and U.S. armies until 1886. when he and 35 warriors surrendered to Gen.  Nelson Miles near the Arizona-New Mexico border.

Geronimo was sent to an Army outpost at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, where he eventually died of pneumonia in 1909.

In 1918, according to legend, members of the secret Skull and Bones club at Yale (including, allegedly, former President George W. Bush's grandfather, Prescott Bush) dug up Geronimo's grave when a group of Army volunteers from Ivy League school was stationed at Fort Sill during World War I. The grave robbers took Geronimo's skull and some of his bones.

On the 99th anniversary of Geronimo's death a group of 20 of the warrior's decendants sued the U.S. government, Skull and Bones and Yale in an attempt to rebury their ancestor's bones near his birthplace.

In 2010 Judge Richard Roberts granted a Justice Department motion to dismiss the suit. Geronimo's relatives, he said, failed to establish that the government waived its right not to be sued. Roberts also
dismissed the lawsuit against Skull and Bones and Yale, saying the plaintiffs cited a law that applies only to Native American cultural items excavated or discovered after 1990.

Osama bin Laden dead: Yes, SEALs were in on the raid, but aides hail Obama's office bravery

According to another one of those White House briefings of reporters designed to suck up all available credit for good news, President Obama's homeland security advisor reveals that it was a really tense time in the air-conditioned White House as unidentified U.S. Navy SEALs closed in on the world's most wanted man after midnight a half a world away.

"Minutes passed like days," says John Brennan, who bravely stood with press secretary Jay Carney before reporters and TV cameras today chronicling his boss' weekend heroics.

The heavily-armed commandos flying in a quartet of darkened Blackhawk and Chinook helicopters more than 100 miles into Pakistan were probably listening to their iPods and discussing the NFL draft.

"The concern was that bin Laden would oppose any type of capture operation," said Obama's Sherlock Holmes. So U.S. troops were prepared "for all contingencies."

In fact, this weekend was such a tense time in the White House that Obama only got in nine holes of golf. But he still managed to deliver his joke script to the White House Correspondents Assn. dinner Saturday evening.

Sunday was, Brennan revealed to his eager audience, "probably one of the most anxiety-filled periods of times in the lives of the people assembled here." Poor poor bureaucrats. Extra Tums all around. Did someone order dinner?

There may have been a little anxiety aboard those combat choppers. Who knows? We can't hear from them. And, as every day, anxiety in the kitchens, hearts and mind of thousands of military families who put up with the terrifying uncertainty of the dangerous deeds their loved ones have volunteered to secretly do for their country. During his 49 minute presentation Brennan did squeeze in one reference to the mission's "very brave personnel."

But the emphasis, with 2012 just around the calendrical corner, was on the boss' valor. "There was nothing that confirmed that bin Laden was at that compound," Brennan related as if such uncertainty is uncommon in war.

"And, therefore," Brennan continued, "when President Obama was faced with the opportunity to act upon this, the president had to evaluate the strength of that information and then made what I believe was one of the most gutsiest calls of any president in recent memory."

According to early reports of the incident, detailed here in The Ticket, 24 SEALs rappelled down ropes from hovering Chinooks in post-midnight darkness Monday Pakistan time with Osama security forces shooting at them. Brennan didn't have much time to go into all that today, the goal is to elevate the ex-state senator to at least a one-star commander-in-chief.

Here's something else that didn't get much recognition in all the street celebrations or all-hail-Obama briefings:

The trail to Monday morning's assault on Osama's Pakistan compound began during someone else's presidency. That previous president authorized enhanced interrogation techniques which convinced folks like Khalid Shaikh Mohammed to give up, among many other things, the name of their top-secret courier, now deceased. His travels ultimately led the CIA back to Osama's six-year-old suburban home.

Related:

Rush Limbaugh on Osama bin Laden's death: 'Thank God for President Obama'

Donald Trump praises Obama on Osama bin Laden's death

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photos: Denis Sinyakov / Reuters (A Chinook and Blackhawk helicopter in Afghanistan); Jewel Samad / AFP / Getty Images (Brennan); Photo illustration by Andrew Malcolm.