It must be love.

“With Barack Obama’s victory in passing a massive stimulus package marred by days of bad press — as not a single House Republican backed the bill, his health czar went down in flames and his second pick for commerce secretary walked away — the administration has been cut down to size, and lost some of its bipartisan sheen.

Such, at least, has been the beltway chatter, but so far the numbers don’t back it up.

Obama’s approval rating remains well above 60 percent in tracking polls. A range of state pollsters said they’d seen no diminution in the president’s sky-high approval ratings, and no improvement in congressional Republicans’ dismal numbers.

And that’s before the stimulus creates billions of dollars in spending on popular programs, which could, at least temporarily, further boost Obama’s popularity.

“It’s eerie — I read the news from the Beltway, and there’s this disconnect with the polls from the Midwest that I see all around me,” said Ann Seltzer, the authoritative Iowa pollster who works throughout the Midwest.

That’s a perception treasured by Obama’s aides, who spent a two-year presidential campaign safeguarding “the brand,” as they called it, of a new, post-partisan sort of political figure.

With the stimulus safely passed, they say they’re relying on the steady support of a populace that, after a closely watched election, is tuning out the Washington cut and thrust, and views Obama as a high-minded reformer and his Republican rivals as bitter partisans.”

Well, hate to break it to Ben, but those “dismal” Republican numbers are only eclipsed by the Democrat’s even more dismal numbers. Not to mention – America doesn’t support the plan. As to “bi-partisanship” we know that Mr. “I Won”, he and his comrades have shown little of that. It’s more than just wining and dining a few RINOs at the White House Superbowl party, and it’s much more than Pelosi’s changing of participation rules for Republicans, and ramrodding a flawed bill – that nobody has read – from behind closed doors to the backside of America.

Ben Smith, if he could get his head out of Obama’s backside long enough might want to rewrite his assessment.

Technorati Tags: ,