Imagine the surprise at the Washington Post when they conducted a poll with equally fawning ABC News and discovered that President Obama is tied with or slipping below George W. Bush on a variety of factors.

Bush is up on overall popularity and Obama is down to where they are tied. On the economy, fewer people dislike Bush than dislike Obama, whereas they are tied on approval of the economy. In other words, George W. Bush is viewed as better on the economy because fewer people dislike him.

This of course comes as no surprise to anyone with a knowledge of politics and American history, but comes as some shock to the poll-takers, no doubt. Even the conciliatory write up in WaPo comes with potshots at Bush because—just in case you forgot—Iraq and Katrina.

Note that the story doesn’t challenges the assumptions or popular myths about both topics: it simply tosses them in the ring like meat and walks away. You know on some websites, if a commenter throws in a divisive topic and walks away, he is dismissed or even banned as a troll. If a reporter does it, apparently it’s considered good journalism. Whatever.

The point is that most people well-grounded in history and politics recognize that Bush was a very good leader who overall made really good decisions, and that most of the condemnation he received was a political stunt organized by a few based on manipulated stories. Historians, you see, have an ability to see past that crap and, if they are not purely political historians who rewrite events to serve their preferred party, will document and assess fairly. A large number of said historians are already assuring that future historians will view Bush very favorably.

And political scientists, who know a bit about history, know that Barack Obama has been sitting on a bubble for years, sustained by the media and popular culture. As more and more Americans are facing the facts that their employment situation is not getting better, and that income is dropping, and that overall confidence in the economy is eroding, it becomes harder and harder to justify support of Obama. Like all second-term presidents, he can no longer hide who he is.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.