Barack Obama, You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feeling … Enthusiasm Gap, 2008 Donators No Where to be Found

BuzzFeed is reporting that Obama’s campaign donations are down in a major way as compared to 2008. Nearly 90% of those who gave Obama $200 in 2008, have yet to do so in 2012. Think the ‘hope & change’ is gone, you betcha. What is most glaring is the enthusiasm is gone. In 2008 Obama had fervent hysteria, in 2012 it is more of a yawn. As we like to say Barack, “You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feeling”.

You’re trying hard not to show it, (baby).
But baby, baby I know it …

You’ve lost that lovin’ feeling,
Whoa, that lovin’ feeling,
You’ve lost that lovin’ feeling,
Now it’s gone … gone … gone … wooooooh.

In 2008, more than 550,000 gave more than $200 to Barack Obama, entering their names in the longest list of individual donors ever seen in American politics.

That list was a snapshot of the hope Obama inspired in a cross sections of liberals, young professionals, African-Americans, and Democrats who saw in him a generational and historic moment. But now, as Obama struggles to keep pace with his 2008 fundraising clip, that list offers a cross-section of Democratic disappointment and alienation. According to a BuzzFeed analysis of campaign finance data, 88% of the people who gave $200 or more in 2008 — 537,806 people — have not yet given that sum this year. And this drop-off isn’t simply an artifact of timing. A full 87% of the people who gave $200 — the sum that triggers an itemized report to the Federal Elections Commission — through April of 2008, 182,078 people, had not contributed by the end of last month.

Interviews with dozens of those drop-off donors reveal the stories of Democrats who still plan to pull the lever for the president, but whose support has gone from fervent to lukewarm, or whose economic circumstances have left them without money to spare. The interviews and the data are the substance of an “enthusiasm gap” spurred by the distance between the promise of the campaign and the reality of governing, one that has begun to deepen Democratic gloom about this November’s election.

As stated by the Gay Patriot, “Many of these folks will still end up voting for Obama this fall, but without the enthusiasm they showed in 2008.  And less enthusiastic, they are less likely to sway wavering friends and neighbors …”