Some very exciting numbers coming in from CNN: Obama's approval rating is back up to a formidable 54%, with 42% of Americans now supporting the Senate's health care plan. Both of these figures are up dramatically from earlier in the month, when Obama's approval was at 48% and HCR was at 36%.
The trend is obvious: passage of the bill on 12/24 by the Senate will only further bolster these promising numbers for Obama and the Democrats in Congress, making prognostications of their doom from Left and Right a tad bit premature.
Here's a link to the CNN Poll:
Most notable to me is that the increase in approval of the bill has come exclusively from Democrats, jumping up 10% from the most recent CNN poll. Despite the highly vocal progressive clamoring for killing the bill and blustery claims that its enactment will lose Obama his base for all time, it's now apparent that more unpopular than anything was the process, not the final product. Once the bill is passed and Obama's first major accomplishment is on the books, I think the Dems will cruise to a very comfortable midterm election and Obama will have plenty of capital to spare for the rest of his first term agenda.
Whether or not you approve of the content of the bill, the fact remains that Obama's base is still with him and he has shown the same patience and grace as an executive that he did as a candidate. We would never have arrived at this moment if he had fallen prey to the rabid 24/hr news cycle/blogosphere's microanalysis of every anonymous leak and Congressional development. I say congrats to President Obama and Leader Reid at getting this thing passed.
Update: Thanks for reccing my diary onto the list!