Bounce gone: Obama’s approval back to normal in Gallup, Rasmussen

Via Centristnet, the exciting conclusion to yesterday’s “maybe this is a trend, maybe it isn’t” navel-gazing on the downturn in the Gallup and Rasmussen daily trackers. Remember when Bill Clinton predicted that Obama’s numbers would rise 10 points “the minute health care passed”? What he neglected to mention was that that rise would last, oh, about five days. Two weeks ago, The One stood at 46/47 in Gallup and 46/53 in Rasmussen; after the bill passed, he bounced up to 50/44 in the former and 49/51 in the latter. Today? Back to 46/46 and 47/53, respectively. Still room left to fall? I’d bet yes, given that stories like this that are only just starting to trickle out into newspapers:

Better beat the crowd and find a doctor.

Primary care physicians already are in short supply in parts of the country, and the landmark health overhaul that will bring them millions more newly insured patients in the next few years promises extra strain…

Yet recently published reports predict a shortfall of roughly 40,000 primary care doctors over the next decade, a field losing out to the better pay, better hours and higher profile of many other specialties. Provisions in the new law aim to start reversing that tide, from bonus payments for certain physicians to expanded community health centers that will pick up some of the slack…

Massachusetts offers a snapshot of how giving more people insurance naturally drives demand. The Massachusetts Medical Society last fall reported just over half of internists and 40 percent of family and general practitioners weren’t accepting new patients, an increase in recent years as the state implemented nearly universal coverage.

That’s from the AP, which changed its original alarming headline for the story to something more Obama-friendly after the fact. Meanwhile, Henry Waxman’s doing his best to try to intimidate companies that are making too much noise about the new costs imposed by O-Care. Which is fine by me; the more bullied businesses feel, the sweeter the House hearings on ObamaCare organized by the new GOP majority next year will be. Put on the brass knuckles, Henry. Get ‘em good and mad.

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