Reports of the Death of Obamanomics are Greatly Exaggerated

I just can't get excited by conservatives who are listening hard for the distant sounds of herds of voters preparing to destroy Obama and his agenda.  Yes, his approval ratings are falling, but his approval ratings were never going to remain at their inauguration highs; once you start making actual policy, rather than pretty promises, you invariably start pissing some people off.  Yes, it turns out that FDR was more of a fluke than a model, and crises may not be such a good time for passing massive new agendas after all.  Yes, the green shoots seem to have shriveled.

But honestly, I feel like the punditariat needs to check its meds; the bipolar swings are starting to induce whiplash.  The second derivative of unemployment perks up, and the economy is back on track, the stimulus is working, and we're all going to go to heaven when we die (and have excellent universal health care right up to that point).  Retail figures fall, and Obama's presidency is over, climate change is going to kill us all if the recession doesn't get us first, and 95% of the Washington Post's columnists start bulk-pricing canned goods and ammunition.

I'm certainly not going to say that Obama is guaranteed re-election, or any part of his expansive agenda.  But it's far, far too early to count him out.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2009/07/reports-of-the-death-of-obamanomics-are-greatly-exaggerated/20952/