“While Obama’s approval rating on terrorism has inched up, his approval ratings for handling the economy and healthcare have declined slightly since they were last measured, in late November. His current 40% approval rating on the economy and 37% rating on healthcare are the lowest of his presidency to date. The latter number is of some concern as the president and Congress work toward final legislation on healthcare reform, which could be ironed out later this month.”

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“President Barack Obama says he has not succeeded in bringing the country together, acknowledging an atmosphere of divisiveness that has washed away the lofty national feeling surrounding his inauguration a year ago.

“‘That’s what’s been lost this year … that whole sense of changing how Washington works,’ Obama said in an interview with People magazine.

“The president said his second-year agenda will be refocused on uniting the country around common values, ‘whether we’re Democrats or Republicans.'”

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“Hats off to him for a near-flawless execution of an audacious campaign strategy. Since nobody knew anything about him, why not claim the mantle of Lincoln? Nobody could point to a governing record to suggest that he was not in fact a leader for the ages – so why not claim to be? Other pols promise the sun, the moon, and the stars in the sky, but Barack Obama would do them one better: he’d promise the eschaton. Not only would an Obama administration grow the economy and end the war, it would reclaim the meaning of citizenship!…

“But if this President is so vainglorious as to believe his campaign’s claims about his greatness, we have reason to worry. With problem piling up on top of problem, the last thing we need is a leader so hopelessly enamored of himself that he actually presumes to be the next Lincoln.”