<p>Former President Bush had a 90% approval after 911 when everyone realized the country had to pull together to meet a threat. If Mickey Mouse had been President, he would have had a 90% approval rating.</p>
<p>President Obama faces challenges which are actually more difficult than the ones W. faced. Its easy to whack third world countries with the best military in the world, even though some casualities are suffered. It is hard to fix an economy plagued by unprecedented disfunctions. </p>
<p>The Great Depression of 1929 happened after an unprecedented and massive buildup of American industrial infrastructure. All we had to do to recover and win WWII was put the existing factories to work on weapons and require almost everyone to contribute to the war effort in some way. </p>
<p>Now American industry is in ruins. Our “wealth” is strip malls, office towers and overpriced real estate. There is no real economy to recover. The bailouts are not addressing the root cause of the problem; the decline in the American job base caused by out sourcing of industrial production. When the recovery comes the beneficiaries will be the societies that have the factories.</p>