Don Feder, GrassTopsUSA.com

“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.” — H.L. Mencken.

According to an April 17-19 Washington Post-ABC News Poll, a majority, or at the very least a plurality, of Americans are: 1) insane; 2) brainwashed; 3) really, really stupid; or 4) so naïve that they need to be restrained to keep them from harming themselves.

In this survey, the president has a net favorability rating of 52% (“somewhat favorable” plus “strongly favorable”), this notwithstanding that from January 2009 to April 2011 – the retail price of gas rose 69.6% (in the Chicago area – it now averages $4.17 a gallon) unemployment-benefit recipients are up 22% and the number of long-term unemployed rose 146%.

Still, more than half of Americans have a favorable opinion of the man who’s steered the ship of state during that period. On the plus side, there was no shortage of ice aboard the Titanic – as it sank.

By 45% to 44% Americans say they trust Obama over the GOP to do a better job of cutting spending to balance the budget. Okay, so we padlock the Pentagon, fire the Border Patrol – and then what?

Americans trust the president to “handle taxes,” over Republicans, by 47% to 42%. Dracula would have done an exceptional job running a blood bank.

When it comes to protecting the middle class, the public prefers the president to Republicans by 51% to 39%. As a candidate in 2008, Obama characterized Middle America as the domain of gun nuts, religious fanatics, bigots and xenophobes. So, a majority expect the president to stand up for folks for whom he has the utmost contempt. That’s logical.

Of those surveyed, only 39% think Obama’s views are “too liberal,” 8% think they’re “too conservative” (who knew the American Communist Party was that large) and 49% think the knee-jerk opinions of this doctrinaire leftist are (I kid you not) “about right.”

When it comes to tackling that pesky national debt, 69% oppose cutting Medicaid (medical welfare for the poor) and 78% oppose any reduction in Medicare (medical services for the elderly), but 72% support attacking that combination scapegoat/piggybank – taxpayers making over $250,000 per annum.

At the same time, 44% (a plurality) said the economy is getting worse, 37% (also a plurality) said jobs are getting scarcer in their area, 78% have noticed that retail prices are rising, and 71% said increases at the pump are causing a financial hardship in their household. Not to worry, the president feels their pain – on alternate weeks when he’s not on vacation, which happen to be the safest times to live in America.

What would it take to get the 57% who think our beloved president isn’t too liberal to change their minds: If he went on television Sunday mornings and read excerpts from “Das Kapital” to the kiddies, if he put George Soros on a $20 bill, if he channeled Che Guevara, if he and his pals Jeremiah Wright and Al Sharpton formed the Marxist-Leninist Chorale Group and sang a medley of old Soviet tunes?

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