There are times when I’d really like to see a liberal brain next to a conservative brain to see if there really is a physiological difference.
Consider Salon’s Joan Walsh who on MSNBC’s The Cycle Wednesday actually said the reason former President George Bush’s poll numbers are up is because President Obama is doing such a good job (video follows with transcript and commentary):
JOAN WALSH: Part of what I think the poll numbers tell us though is that President Obama improved the economy. The stimulus worked. It didn't do everything it needed to do, but it took people out of that misery that they were in, a lot of people. He has kept us safe. This bombing is an unfortunate blip, but in general he's done all the things you said. And people, the country doesn't have that sense of siege that it had in 2008, early 2009.
And so I think, you know, perhaps President Bush should thank President Obama tomorrow when he sees him because it’s let people sort of have the luxury of saying, “Oh, he wasn't such a bad guy.” And we don't like to hate our presidents. Outside of a fringe, maybe on both sides, Americans don't want to hate their presidents. They want to admire their presidents, and they tend to go up in esteem after they're gone. So, you know, it’s not that surprising.
For the record, the poll being discussed was published by The Washington Post/ABC News Tuesday showing Bush now with a 47 percent approval. This is way up from the 23 percent he had in October 2008:
What Walsh and her MSNBC hosts chose not to address is that according to Gallup, Obama currently has virtually the same approval as Bush at 48 percent.
More importantly as it relates to Walsh's absurd point is that as Bush's approval numbers have steadily risen in the past four years, Obama's have steadily declined to close to the lows of his presidency:
With this in mind, it's far more likely that as Americans have soured on Obama despite his reelection, they're suddenly viewing Bush's presidency in a far more positive light by comparison.
Farbeit for a liberal such as Walsh to reach that logical conclusion.
