THERE IS INDEED NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS - AT 8:30 A.M. ET:  Former Bush 43 Bush speechwriter David Frum examines the phenomenon of President Obama's high popularity in the fact of grave doubts about his actual policies:

President Obama got a heaping serving of good news in Monday’s Washington Post poll. He remains strongly personally popular, and the public’s heavy mood of pessimism has lifted somewhat: 42 percent now say the country is on “the right track,” nearly triple the number who thought so before the election—and the best number in five years.

It seems unlikely that this jump represents a reasoned response to the president’s actual policies, which have had little time to affect voters directly...

...No, it’s not the policies the public is applauding. It is the energy, the perception of activity, a feeling (understandable enough) that something is finally being done! Once again, the American people are confirming the astute observation of Franklin Roosevelt that voters will forgive the errors of activist government more than “the constant omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.”

And so they will. At least until the full costs of the errors of activist government come home.

COMMENT:  Very well said, and the rest of the piece is definitely worth reading.  One hope we have, in my view, is the 24-hour news cycle and the power of the internet.  Administrations up to, say, 1998, did not have to deal with the sheer volume of material immediately available to citizens, and the speed with which criticisms can be mounted.  Will that help in slowing the Obama power grab?  I don't know, but at least there are some weapons available, if they're used correctly and accompanied by a carefully drawn Republican program.

April 2, 2009