A common refrain in Washington is that President Obama's sinking popularity is setting up his fellow Democrats for a drubbing in November midterm elections. But author Michael Hirsh says in Newseek that, after a relentless barrage of bad press, Obama may have sunk so low that the slightest hint of improvement -- on the economy, on health care, on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- could save Democrats from catastrophe:
"At this juncture in his presidency, Barack Obama might think about taking his political cue from the title of Richard Fariña's 1960s novel: Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me. In the race to the bottom that American politics has become -- the only question is which party will be less popular going into the November election -- Obama's been written off so completely that the Democrats' electoral prospects may be starting to look up simply because they can't drop much lower.
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