The United States of America vs. Karl Rove

This is the world that Karl Rove lives in: Obama's approval rating is in deep trouble, the public wants to kill government-run health care, and the Republicans have a shot at riding health reform like a gust of wind out of their smoldering ashes. The rest of us live in a world that looks, well, the utter and exact opposite. This is what Karl Rove being wrong looks like:

Karl Rove: "While still good, President Barack Obama's political health is deteriorating, threatened by what he thought would be balm -- his ambitious plan for a government takeover of health care"

Public Opinion (via RealClearPolitics):

Karl Rove: "Mr. Obama's trashing of American health care as "a broken system" that must be brought "into the 21st century" doesn't resonate with most Americans."

Public Opinion (via the New York Times):

Karl Rove: "To strengthen the emerging coalition of independents and Republicans, the GOP must fight Mr. Obama's agenda with reasoned arguments and attractive alternatives. Health care may actually be an issue that helps resurrect the GOP."

Public Opinion (via Gallup and The Plum Line): The public trusts health insurance companies more than Republicans.

I'm under no illusions that reforming health care will be easy, inevitable or even effective. We still have a long way to go before we work out co-op vs. public option, engineer ways to incentivize private insurance companies to take on more at-risk patients, and somehow bring down costs to make health care reform deficit-neutral (ie pays for itself) over the next ten years. As a fake president once wisely said, "we've got serious problems and we need serious people." Karl Rove is not serious people, and this shouldn't even count for trying.

(Rhetorical ht @Conor Clarke)