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Obama's Credit Gap - Why the President's Victories Go Unnoticed

by S Critchley/Z Friend on Aug 1, 2010

By Zach Friend and Spencer Critchley, posted at Huffington Post , Aug 1, 2010: We knew this was coming. The media have finally noticed the gap between Barack Obama's extraordinary achievements -- health care reform, financial reform and preventing a depression, to name a very few -- and his seeming inability to win credit for them. "Why can't Obama get a break?" is the meme of the day.

Of course, the issue is not so much that the president can't win credit, it's that others, including the media, can't give it to him. The loss of that distinction is in itself a sign of this disconnect.

As with any trend, there is no single cause for this one. Rather, multiple causes come together at the right time and reinforce each other.

Cause number one is simply the economy. Yes, we avoided total collapse. Yes, recovery looks to be well under way. But unemployment is still high, people are still scared and angry, and they blame the person in charge now,...Read More >>