What seems to be lacking amongst the main-stream media’s love fest is a little historical perspective.

Obama remains, at this point, neither the messiah nor the devil. The best adjectives to describe him are untested, little known, unproven. We will not really be able to discern the arc of his presidency for some time yet.

Sort of like the Greek proverb, “Call no man happy until he is dead.”

To supply some historical context, I offer the following bit of data:

Presidential approval ratings, ~30 days into office
(Johnson & Ford omitted for obvious reasons)

Barack Obama                   2/21/2009   59%
George Bush (43)             2/21/2001   61%
Bill Clinton                         2/14/1993   51%
George Bush (41)             2/27/1989   60%
Ronald Reagan                  2/16/1981   55%
Jimmy Carter                     2/15/1977   71%
Richard Nixon                    2/25/1969   59%
John Kennedy                   2/15/1961   72%
Eisenhower                        2/26/1953   66%

Source: The American Presidency Project, UC-Santa Barbara
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/popularity.php

In God we trust.

All others, bring data!