Obama Admits He's Dragging Democrats Down

Conceding that, perhaps, a bit
of the gloss has come off his presidency, President Barack Obama is
telling congressional Democrats to run, run as fast as they can
away from him as they seek to survive his rein of error.

From U.S. News & World Report‘s
Kenneth T. Walsh:

President Obama has delivered a humbling message to fellow
Democrats: He admits he is unpopular in much of the country and
will understand if legislators don’t want to appear with him on the
campaign trail.

Obama made the remarks in a private session with Senate
Democrats Wednesday.  “He said he knew he is not popular in
some of the states so he would not be offended if he were not
invited to visit them this year,” a senator told the Washington
Post. “But he said he could be helpful in some parts of some
states.” The senator requested anonymity in order to discuss the
private meeting candidly.

Unpopular is right. Gallup says that
50 percent of Americans disapprove of the president’s
performance in office, while only 41 percent approve (his numbers
were
even worse a few months ago). CNN/ORC also has
disapproval
at 50 percent. The RealClearPolitics
average of polls stands at 51.8 percent disapproval and 43
percent approval—a precipitous fall from the heady days when
President Obama was first elected and Americans were hopeful that
he might not suck at the job. Now, even though most Americans tell
CNN/ORC that they wish the president the best, 56 percent think
that his policies will ultimately fail.

The “will” before “fail” presumably refers to those policies
that haven’t already failed.

As a result, generic congressional preference polls, as little
as they’re worth,
currently give the edge to Republicans.

Presidents often prove to be deadweight on their parties, once
reality sets in—Barack Obama isn’t unique in this regard. George W.
Bush lost most of his luster by this point in his presidency, too.
Americans (and voters elsewhere, for that matter) have developed a
nasty habit of investing their elected officials with massive
power—but impossible expectations. The combination is a guaranteed
recipe for both disappointment and abuse.

Lots of both, really.