We are more than 2 years from the next presidential election, so a lot of things can happen.

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-presapp0605-31.html

Clinton's ratings were much lower at the same point in his first term.

Mike from Morgantown

My post was just in reference to the one I qouted. AS far as the wars go, there isn't really a difference between Bush/Obama I know he said we would stay in afganistan, but he did say we would be out of Iraq with in 2. Personally, I am glad we are in both. I have fears about what a really srong Iran could do.

God I hope not. My kids will be paying for the stupid shit he's done. I'm suprised his approval rating is that high.

Only if the Republican candidate is a dislikeable moron who does more to alienate the population than connect. So if Sarah Palin is the candidate, then yes. But if they put a serious candidate in I can see him having a lot of trouble. I think it would be fun to see Rudy Guiliani give it a serious shot, maybe Ron Paul if he could reverse the ageing process. But knowing Republicans, they will probably just go for Palin.

Still, Obama hasn't done a bad job, he just hasn't lived up to the hype.

The problem with Obama is that he isn't being a leader, he's being a compromiser. What he needs to understand is, the GOP WILL NOT WORK WITH HIM, at least until November. They have him right where they want him. I was watching Keith Olbermann last night on special comment, and he was right. Had Obama started from a Single-Payer system on healthcare, we'd have a much popular healthcare bill by now with a public option that would easily have brought down costs. Maybe we could have gotten a stronger Stimulus Bill that worked better (cue Fox News talking points that it didn't work, even though it did http://mediamatters.org/research/201008080008) He needs to learn that nothing he does will please Fox News, and he needs to start leading and ignoring the GOP. That and Kick Ben Nelson out of the democratic party.

what he said especially if the republicans really want to nominate Palin

A couple things here. the GOP would never work with anyone with the views of Obama. That's the problem. The Presidents who have had the most success are the ones closer to the middle. While the people on the far edges of there party might not like them, they get more from the other party then they lose.

Obama is on the extreme end of his party. He will not get Republican support, because 99% of the things he does they don't support.

And not having a single payer system has nothing to do with Obama. If that's what Congress would have gone for, there never would have been a bill for Obama to sign.

As for Ben Nelson, I think what he did was fantastic. Ben Nelson does not represent the people of the united states, he represents the people of Nebraska. What he did was in the best interests of the people he represents.

The people who should be thrown out, are anyone who agreed to what he was trying to do, because agreeing to it meant sacrificing the people you represent for the sake of your ideology. 

Who do you consider in the middle of the Democratic Party if Obama is on the extreme end?  The health care plan Obama got through is like what Mitt Romney did in Mass. and comes out of the playbook of the GOP in the past.

Considered how much the GOP has deviated from principles, I would expect them in 2016 to end up stating the Democrat running for president is left of Marx.

The radicals have often been the most successful candidates. Jackson, Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt (though he wasn't wedded to certain core Republican values), Franklin Roosevelt, Johnson, and Reagan (though Reagan was less conservative than people often give him credit for. Certainly less radical than the god-to-conservatives he's been made into)

Obama said combat operations would stop in Iraq in 2 years, and they are stopping in about a month (2 years and 1 month).  Of course we'll still be there, we will probably never leave anywhere but the combat troops are leaving.  He did pretty much as he promised there, he pretty much followed in bush's footsteps with the two wars, that is basically what he said he would do.