• His personality

No one will ever mistake Obama for warm and fuzzy. But when he tries even a bit, he can’t help being winning. His smile remains dazzling, even if he flashes it less often.

His adversaries are implacable, but a critical mass of Americans still like to feel better about themselves because they feel good about Obama, just as they did when they elected him twice. The public understands that the president’s biggest structural political problems are not of his making, and none of the setbacks of the second term have altered the fact that people basically like the guy.

A Gallup Organization survey this summer found that three-quarters of Americans saw Obama likeable, while 55 percent rated him as honest and trustworthy, and nearly six in 10 said that he understands the problems Americans face.

Throughout last year’s reelection, the Obama campaign’s internal surveys showed that the very quality that so many Washington insiders now complain about — that the president is not much of a politician — was one that most endeared him to the public.