On Thursday the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press released a poll showing that President Barack Obama has suffered diminished support from independent voters.
This is a welcome sign for the president’s political opponents, but what does it say about those who had supported Obama, particularly those who voted for him in the 2008 presidential election?
On Hugh Hewitt nationally syndicated radio show Thursday, National Review columnist Mark Steyn observed these numbers and suggested that independent voters are realizing the consequences of their votes.
“I don’t have a lot of sympathy for the independents because I think in 2008, they thought they could afford their kind of moral narcissism,” Steyn said. “They voted for Obama to feel good about themselves. They ignored a lot of evidence as to what kind of guy he is and the world which he had been marinated his entire adult life. And they realize like a lot of people that they actually couldn’t afford the consequences of that vote. And I think the reality of that is still staring them in the face.”
Steyn added, however, that it’s time to look beyond that reality and on to the not-so-distant future as the debt ceiling debate continues in Washington, D.C.
“We need to go some ways beyond that,” he continued, “because otherwise, we’re looking at incredibly grim scenarios — not in 2050 and 2070 with these other absurd CBO projections. We’re looking at grim scenarios kicking in around 2015, 2017 and 2018.”