It Isn't Always as Bad as We Think

This is a chart that Andrew Sullivan posted last week. It is the approval ratings of presidents during their two years in office. The bold blue is Obama. The bold red is Reagan.

Reagan was in the middle of a long recession. He had polarized the country. Yet today, even some of us who were not particularly supportive of him, would certainly not say he was as "bad" as those ratings would indicate. (Note: This does not mean I approve of what he did. I'm looking at the national trends. Such polls, as Bush would say, do not make a person a "bad" president. Also, the lowest line, well below Reagan- Harry Truman.)

Andrew points out, correctly I believe, that Reagan's advisors would not have recommended to him what they are recommending to Obama. They, then, told him to fight- even against popular opinion. They told him to stand for his principles even when the polls show him down.

The only difference between then and now? Those same advisors don't agree with Obama. Therefore he better do what they told Reagan not to do.

Ain't politics fun?