The polarizing president

Remember Obama's promise of bipartisanship during the campaign? Remember his message of unity at the inauguration? Well, that may be kind of hard when he's the most polarizing president in the first few months of his term:

The Pew Research Center reported last week that President Barack Obama "has the most polarized early job approval of any president" since surveys began tracking this 40 years ago. The gap between Mr. Obama's approval rating among Democrats (88%) and Republicans (27%) is 61 points. This "approval gap" is 10 points bigger than George W. Bush's at this point in his presidency, despite Mr. Bush winning a bitterly contested election.

Part of Mr. Obama's polarized standing can be attributed to a long-term trend. University of Missouri political scientist John Petrocik points out that since 1980, each successive first term president has had more polarized support than his predecessor with the exception of 1989, when George H.W. Bush enjoyed a modest improvement over Ronald Reagan's 1981 standing.

But rather than end or ameliorate that trend, Mr. Obama's actions and rhetoric have accelerated it. His campaign promised post-partisanship, but since taking office Mr. Obama has frozen Republicans out of the deliberative process, and his response to their suggestions has been a brusque dismissal that "I won."

Karl Rove in this WSJ piece also points out the fact that even moderate Democrats in Congress decided to join the Republicans to oppose the budget. Ironically, if any unity has been shown in Washington, it's from the Congressional Republicans.

Move over, Messiah, make room for the Prophet Dean

For a party that attracts atheists and non-religious folks, the liberal Democrats sure have a way of deifying their leaders. Barack "The One"/"The Messiah" Obama came first, and now Ari Berman of The Nation writes about Howard "The Prophet" Dean.

Sure, DNC Chairman Dean should get credit for his 50-state strategy to regain power, first in the legislative branch, and then the executive. In 2006 under his leadership Democrats became the majority in both houses of Congress. That momentum helped Obama win the general election by capturing battleground states like Indiana, Virginia, and North Carolina, along with several western states.

However, Berman attributes the Democratic resurgence from "Bush's remarkable mishandling of the country's domestic and foreign policies" simply makes him sound like a liberal talking head. Congress turned blue because of Republican politicians leaving their conservative roots and ignoring their warnings, and the fact that these politicians enjoyed having power for so long brewed corruption. Corruption brought down the Congressional Republicans. Poor economy hurt McCain's White House bid.

Dean isn't a prophet for coming up with a winning strategy. He's just like Karl "The Architect" Rove.

The Architect breaks down election numbers

Karl Rove thinks the Republicans have a good chance in 2010 from a historical context. Cautious optimism, I say.

Obama vs. McCain, final round

Last night's debate was definitely more interesting than the previous one. Both candidates were focused, knowing that this would be the last chance to sway voters on television. McCain seemed more energetic -- probably because he's the underdog -- in his answers, often going on the offensive. He brought up issues about Obama's ties to Bill Ayers and Obama's contribution to ACORN, the community organization under investigation in several states for voter fraud. Obama was on the defensive, trying to explain the allegations of wrongdoing.

McCain scored points for the attacks, but Obama handled well in defense. At no time was Obama thrown off balance by McCain's punches. My opinion is that McCain should've done these in the second debate and not the last one. I don't think it was enough to refuel the buzz in the last weeks of the campaign.

Karl Rove in his WSJ column points out that there are still a significant number of undecided voters:

Barack Obama holds a 7.3% lead in the Real Clear Politics average of all polls, but the latest Gallup tracking poll reveals that there are nearly twice as many undecided voters this year than there were in the last presidential election. The Investor's Business Daily/TIPP poll (which was closest to the mark in predicting the 2004 outcome -- 0.4% off the actual result) now says this is a three-point race.

Mr. Rove aka "The Architect" has a very good point. It's always been the undecided and independent voters who'll determine the outcome of an election.