RUSH: There’s a story here by Chris Cillizza in the Washington Post: “President Obama Got Elected on Competence. Now People are Starting to Wonder.” You see, ladies and gentlemen, the Drive-Bys are beginning to get worried. The very low approval numbers, around 40 — I don’t know how it’s that high, frankly. But the disapproval number is almost at 60%. Six out of 10 disapprove of the way Obama’s doing the job. That is really bad. Really worrisome, because, remember, these people back in 2007 and 2008 promoted Barack Obama as the single greatest living human being to get into politics.

We had never, ever seen anybody with this kind of talent, with these credentials, with this unique ability to unite people and to steer us away from politics as usual. Barack Obama was gonna erase all of the negative aspects of the Bush years. He was gonna make the world love us again and he was going to restore the economy, and he was going to close down Club Gitmo and all of these magical, wonderful things because he was the smartest guy to come along. He’s also the first African-American president, therefore historical. And now the bloom is off the rose. The bloom is way off the rose. The Drive-Bys are very worried about it. In fact, here’s how Cillizza — now, remember the headline, ’cause I think he starts with a flawed premise, which I will ‘splain here in a minute.

“A new CNN/ORC national poll reveals the problem. Asked whether Obama can ‘manage the government effectively,’ nearly six in 10 (57%) say that statement didn’t apply to the president. … Here’s why that number — especially in light of the Secret Service and Obamacare stories over the last 24 hours — should scare President Obama and the Democratic Party.

“It goes directly to the heart of why he was elected — as an anti-George W. Bush, a person who, above all else, was competent at handling the basic affairs of government,” the competent candidate. “Here’s how we,” meaning Cillizza, “put it way back in December 2008.” This is Cillizza quoting himself:

“Barack Obama and the Cult of Competency — Barack Obama won the White House last month in large part by running against George W. Bush and tapping into the public perception that his administration has been ineffectual in handling important policy questions. So it’s not surprise that in the first month of his transition to the presidency, the president-elect is putting a premium on competence above all else.”

Have you heard about the Secret Service? This is the second time, that we know of, a bunch of Secret Service agents got plastered overnight at a party while they were in town on the presidential detail. It was while the president was at The Hague in the Netherlands. Last time was in Colombia. Some Secret Service agents got plastered in Colombia. Now it’s happened a second time. Now, this is amazingly troubling to the left.

I don’t know why. Of all things to bother them about Obama’s competence, that does. The Secret Service getting drunk while on the job, to them sends a signal that Obama’s not competent. They’re not worried that they’re not protecting him. That’s not it. They’re worried that… I don’t know. They don’t respect him? They don’t think it’s serious enough task to protect him? I don’t know what it is.

But they’re really bothered by it ’cause Cillizza mentions it here, that and Obamacare. Obamacare, people have no idea, because of these waivers and delays. I’m telling you, people have no idea. If you have benefited from a delay or a waiver, you don’t have the slightest idea what’s gonna happen to you when those waivers are lifted. You have no idea what your policy’s gonna cost you.

It’s gonna be through the roof. You have no idea. You’re gonna buy a policy, and then you’re gonna find out that the hospital of your choice is not in the network. So then you’re gonna ask, “Well, what kind of policy do I buy to get that hospital?” The answer will be: “Oh, sorry, it’s not available. The hospitals have opted out.” Wait ’til this happens. Wait ’til this starts happening.

Wait ’til people find out that the catastrophic part of their insurance is worthless because none of the hospitals near where they live are part of the Obamacare network. The vast majority of Americans still haven’t learned that yet. Now, they have learned that they can’t sign up, and they don’t know if you’ve paid. What has happened to people so far is bad enough.

But all of these waivers and delays and extensions like the, “You can keep your illegal plan if you like it”? Well, the day’s gonna come where you’re gonna have to give that up, and I shudder when I think about what people are gonna realize, and it’s gonna be too late. It’s gonna be after all the elections, by design. But anyway, back to Cillizza’s piece. Obamacare and the Secret Service thing have got ’em ticked off.

But I think his premise is wrong. Obama got elected on competence? That’s not why he got elected. (sigh) There were people that voted for Obama just ’cause he was different. The media was touting him as something almost superhuman, messianic. It wasn’t that people thought he was competent. The Drive-Bys portrayed him as that way! The media did all this PR managing and imaging of Obama.

He didn’t do any of it himself. He just accepted it all. He was whatever people wanted him to be, remember? He was a blank slate, a blank canvas. You could paint him as whatever you wanted to be. But there was no evidence of any competence. He’d served 160 days in the Senate, most of it running for office. He’d be a state senator voting “present” more times than he voted yes or no.

There was no track record to prove competence.

It’s just something the Drive-Bys assigned to him because he was a young, vibrant Democrat. He wasn’t Hillary. But come on, what’s the elephant in the room here? The people voted for Barack Obama because they were so desperate to end the racial strife in this country that they thought if we elected an African-American president, we would once and for all end all of these silly arguments throughout our society that we are a slave or racist country.

There were people that voted for Obama because they were afraid that if people found out they hadn’t voted for the first African-American president, they would be called racist. Come on! How could you not mention that as one of the reasons? That’s what has the Republican Party paralyzed against any criticism of Obama. It was one of the primary attractions of the media, the historical aspect. But I don’t know…

Where was there any evidence of this competence?

There wasn’t any.