It must have killed AP's Ron Fournier (Karl Rove's pal who almost worked for McCain) to write this article. But, the numbers are what they are -- and the Americans are feeling better about the direction of the country. For the first time in a long time, more Americans think we're going in the right direction. That's the kind of change we needed:
[T]he percentage of Americans saying the country is headed in the right direction rose to 48 percent, up from 40 percent in February. Forty-four percent say the nation is on the wrong track.That's quite a turnaround. We have a president who appears to be working hard every day for the American people. We'll see how long it lasts. It's almost fitting that when Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and Newt Gingrich are re-rearing their ugly heads and looking backwards, the American people are feeling hopeful and looking forward.
Not since January 2004, shortly after the capture of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, has an AP survey found more "right direction" than "wrong direction" respondents. The burst of optimism didn't last long in 2004.
And it doesn't happen much.
Other than that blip five years ago, pessimism has trumped optimism in media polls since shortly after the invasion of Iraq in the spring of 2003.
The "right track" number topped "wrong direction" for a few months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to non-AP media polls, and for several months late in the Clinton administration.
So far, Obama has defied the odds by producing a sustained trend toward optimism. It began with his election.
In October 2008, just 17 percent said the country was headed in the right direction. After his victory, that jumped to 36 percent. It dipped a bit in December but returned to 35 percent around the time of his inauguration and has headed upward since.
