MORE GRIEF FOR THE CHIEF – AT 9:52 A.M. ET:  A new survey tells the president exactly how the public feels about his leadership style.  If he's savvy, he'll take the advice seriously.  From The Hill: 

A vast majority of Americans say President Obama needs to change the way he is leading the country, according to a new poll.

The NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey released Monday found that 47 percent of Democrats say the president needs to substantially alter how he approaches his job.

Two-thirds of registered voters surveyed say they think Obama should undertake either “a great deal of change” or “quite a bit of change” to his leadership style. Nearly a quarter more respondents called for “just some change,” with just 8 percent saying “not that much change” was necessary.

Those numbers compare unfavorably to the weeks before the 2010 midterm elections, when Democrats lost control of the House. While the percentage calling for “quite a bit of change” and “just some change” have remained constant, those advocating for a “great deal of change” has risen 4 percentage points.

A quarter of those surveyed who say they want Republicans to control Congress say their vote is an explicit protest of the president’s job performance — an increase of 10 percentage points from the 2010 midterms.

Moreover, voters appear to reject the president’s plan for handling the crisis that has dominated headlines headed into the elections: Ebola. More than seven in 10 Americans say that doctors should be quarantined for three weeks after returning from treating patients in the Ebola hot zone. The president has argued that doing so could discourage public health officials from traveling to the affected area, which will prolong the outbreak.

COMMENT:  What this tells me is that Americans have caught on.  They see Obama for the empty suit that he is, a man vastly unprepared for the presidency.  And then want him to improve. 

The poll also reveals a possible flaw in our electoral system.  We're stuck with Obama for another two years, when critical problems will face the nation, even though he is vastly unpopular and his administration a mess.  Should we continue a political structure that gives a president four years in office, followed by another four if re-elected?  Or should we go to an alternative form – one six-year term has been suggested.  Or, maybe there could be easier ways of easing a president out of office.  Right now the only methods are resignation or impeachment and removal.  Maybe we should adopt practices that come from parliamentary systems, wherein a president could be removed if, by secret ballot, two thirds of each house of Congress, votes him out.  What do you think?

November 3, 2014