Voters Disapprove of Obama Blocking Release of Fast & Furious Docs

Though the 2-to-1 margin is higher than I expected, there was little doubt President Obama's decision to invoke executive privilege to prevent the release of documents that might shed some light in the Fast and Furious scandal was a bad political move.

This is what makes the President's decision so troubling.

What's in those documents that makes paying the political price worth it?

Because our media has protected Obama by refusing to cover Fast and Furious, voters aren't anywhere near as educated on the story as they were, say, the nothingburger that was Valerie Plame. But for decades, executive privilege has been synonymous with Watergate and cover ups.

From the looks of this poll released today, it still is:

The Hill Poll found that likely voters disapproved by an almost 2-to-1 margin of Obama’s assertion of presidential power in the case. Overall, 56 percent of voters disapproved of his action, while only 29 percent approved. …

Sixty-one percent of independents said they disapproved of the president’s actions, and just 25 percent approved. Among Republicans, opposition to the president’s use of executive privilege was more entrenched at 78 percent.

Even 28 percent of Democrats, and 30 percent of self-identified liberals disapproved of Obama’s position.

After the President invoked executive privilege, the media was forced to cover a story it had strenuously covered up for a year. In response, the media attempted to paint the President's move as a fight against a renegade Republican Congress playing political games during an election year. Not only does this poll prove that tactic failed, my guess is that these numbers will get worse as people start to ask, "What the heck is Fast and Furious?"

Read the full post