John Judis in September 2009:
bq. Obama’s fortunes, like those of so many of his predecessors, are tethered to the economy.
John Judis now (not yet online):
bq. The most important reason [for Obama’s struggles] has been an inability to develop a politics that resonates with the public.
And so Brendan Nyhan, once more unto the breach:
bq. There’s nothing especially mysterious about why Obama has “somehow failed to connect with large parts of the electorate”…Presidents tend to be more successful at “connecting” and “resonating” with the public when the economy is doing well. When things are going badly, political messages tend to fall flat. What president has ever “connected” or “resonated” in a terrible economy like this?
There is much more at the post. Lots of the supporting data for Judis’s take — as was true in another of his analyses — just doesn’t hold much water.
Judis was right in September 2009. He should stick to that story.