OH PLEASE - AT 8:11 P.M. ET:  The Obamafied press, thrown off its game recently by the president's plunging poll numbers, is working to get back in stride.  Analyze and excuse is the name of the game.  For example:

WASHINGTON – The success of President Barack Obama's ambitious agenda — from health care and climate change to education — could depend on how quickly he recovers from the sharp drop in support among white voters after criticizing a white policeman's arrest of a black Harvard scholar.

In the immortal words of that great philosopher, George Gobel, let's wait a gosh-darned minute.  From the figures I've seen, the drop in Obama's support began long before he opened his mouth about the Gates arrest.  This seems to be a set-up to suggest that the president's policies are popular, but compromised only by that one incident.  Not true, not true.

If Obama is to have success with the policy changes he wants, he can't afford to shed white support. Not to mention the disaster that losing the affections of many in the blue-collar, Reagan Democrat constituency would spell for any re-election campaign.

Better wait another gosh-darned minute.  The whole premise here is wrong, but results from a mentality that says, "America is a racist country. Obama has to avoid race so his agenda, which people really want, isn't hurt."

This is total nonsense.  It's Obama's policies that aren't popular.  Survey after survey shows that.  The Gates incident simply made matters worse, but it didn't create the problem.

Finally, some sanity:

Robert Shapiro, a Columbia University political science professor, noted that whites are more likely to be Republicans and independents than Democrats, and that poll numbers, even on a specific question, are almost never pure.

"I think here any decline in his poll numbers have more to do with the economy, health care, and issues other than the Gates arrest," he said. "His ability to recover has to be looked at in the longer term, which will hinge on the economy most of all, then other issues like Iraq/Afghanistan, health care, energy/the environment."

That is correct.

But the story plunges right back into some very strange territory:

Obama also could benefit from the fact that Congress is heading into its August recess. Pending health care overhaul legislation — and the still-limping economy — will be the talk of their towns as lawmakers spend the month in their districts.

How, precisely, does Obama benefit from this?  It's opposition to his health-care schemes that got him into so much trouble.  That's what members of Congress will hear when they go home.

Journalistic weirdness.

August 1, 2009