USA Today Shockingly Asks 'Is President Obama Losing His Base?'

"Is President Obama losing his base?"

So shockingly began an article published by USA Today Thursday.

Entitled "Obama's Liberal Base 'Disengaged,'" the piece actually answered its own question, and in a fashion that had to disappoint liberals as it raised conservative eyebrows (h/t Big Government):

Liberal and progressive organizations that helped propel him to the White House are turning on him now, little more than a year after he took office. Their collective discontent, on issues from health care to nuclear energy to the handling of terrorism suspects, could mean bad news for Democrats during this fall's congressional elections.

Polls show that liberals and blacks still approve of the job Obama's doing. That approval, however, doesn't necessarily mean they will make the effort to vote, and many of the activists and groups that worked to get people to the polls in 2008 say they're not inclined right now to help Democrats in the fall.

"The energized base which transformed the nation and elected our first black president (is) now disengaged," Democratic political strategist Donna Brazile says. "If this was September, I would hit the panic button."

After discussing some specific issues hurting Obama and the Democrats in a number of states, the piece then actually quoted a -- wait for it! -- Republican pollster:

Republican pollster Frank Luntz says the angst on Obama's left is sure to benefit the GOP.

"It's the perfect storm" for Obama, he says. "All the conservative groups are coalescing out of anger and all the liberal groups are disappearing out of anger. If he moves to satisfy one, he destroys himself with the other. ... He's in a really tough spot."

Is this really the same paper that on Thursday shamelessly defended Michael "Hockey Stick" Mann on its front page?