WELL, THAT KARL ROVE WILL NEVER GET TO BE AN IVY LEAGUE PROFESSOR IF HE'S NOT INFLATING GRADES:

The President Is No B+: In fact, he's got the worst ratings of any president at the end of his first year. (Karl Rove, 12/17/09, Wall Street Journal)

There are many factors that explain it, including weakness abroad, an unprecedented spending binge at home, and making a perfectly awful health-care plan his signature domestic initiative. But something else is happening.

Mr. Obama has not governed as the centrist, deficit-fighting, bipartisan consensus builder he promised to be. And his promise to embody a new kind of politics—free of finger-pointing, pettiness and spin—was a mirage. He has cheapened his office with needless attacks on his predecessor.