THE CLINTON ADVANTAGE:

Obama's Honeymoon is Over: One year after Obama won the presidency, many are questioning him on the economy and Afghanistan (Kenneth T. Walsh, November 4, 2009, US News)

A year later, much of Obama's initial luster has faded. His job approval ratings now hover at just over 50 percent, polarization in Washington is as bad as ever, and much of his agenda has stalled on Capitol Hill. Unemployment is near 10 percent, provoking widespread anxiety in the middle class. Only 36 percent of Americans say the country is heading in the right direction, while 52 percent say things are "off on the wrong track," according to the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll. All this indicates a more pessimistic attitude than Americans exhibited at the start of the Obama era.

Just as important, the nation is deeply divided over Obama's pushing the government into more areas of national life. Forty-eight percent say government "is doing too many things better left to businesses and individuals," while 46 percent say government should do more to solve problems, the NBC/Wall Street Journal survey found. Many say that Obama's spending programs, which were enacted by the Democratic majority in Congress and have created a $1.4 trillion budget deficit this year alone, are profligate. Most Americans still like their 48-year-old leader as an individual, considering him a good family man and role model, according to the polls, but charisma and good intentions are no longer enough.

There's a considerable upside for the UR in his very failure to achieve any change. It means he just needs to change the atmospherics--a la Bill Clinton after November 1994--and he can be re-elected to work with the Republican Congress.

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 4, 2009 2:44 PM