Only 32% Of Americans Want Guantanamo Bay Closed
This weekend I wrote a post wondering how long it would take for Obama’s campaign promise to close Guantanamo Bay down to come back and haunt him. After all if he doesn’t close it his far-left base, for which Gitmo is something of a casus belli, is going to believe that they aren’t getting their fair share of hope ‘n change. But if he does close it, and if some of the detainees there go on to participate in crimes and/or acts of terrorism (it’s already happened with some of the released detainees), he looks like a fool.
But now it looks like Obama has problems with this particular campaign promise that go beyond the quandary above. As it turns out, only 32% of Ameicans think Gitmo should be closed down.
Nearly half of U.S. voters (49%) say the United States should not close the terrorist prison camp at Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba, but the identical number (49%) also say Barack Obama is Very likely to close it in the first year of his presidency.
Only 32% of voters say the Guantanamo prison camp should be closed, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. One-out-of-five (19%) are undecided.
Paul Ibrahim notes:
So, Obama doesn’t have a mandate on Guantanamo. He doesn’t have a mandate on the Big Three bailout. And he doesn’t have a mandate on offshore drilling or nuclear power.
Only an outspoken minority are on his side on these issues. Yet I suspect that Obama is so blinded by his own ego, and the Democrats have so convinced themselves of having received a mandate, that they will completely disregard the will of the people on these important matters.
Sounds about right to me.
Tags: Domestic Issues, Politics
