What Happened to the Hopemonger?

Here's a fact that will probably shock you: Americans today have the same level of confidence in President Obama as they had in George W. Bush after his first month in office. According to Gallup, Obama's public approval rating currently stands at 63 percent, only a point above George W. Bush in late February 2001.

That Obama now stands where Bush did eight years ago, on the eve of his first address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, serves as a reminder of how quickly the demands of the presidency can sober even the most talented politicians. [snip]

Both Reagan and Obama began their presidencies with less than one in five Americans satisfied with the direction of the country. At the same time, like when Reagan first took office, eight in 10 Americans today remain "satisfied with the way things are going in" their "own personal life." *

In other words, the people today seem more optimistic than their president. They haven't given up hope, and Obama's burden tomorrow is to demonstrate that neither has.

[Again, 'personal life' is based on first hand experience - and 'national attitudes' are based on what we hear in the media.]

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