John Zogby's Obama Weekly Report Card is Featured in Paul Bedard's "Washington Secrets" Published weekly in The Washington Examiner
This week's grade: C
Never one to play to the crowd, this fiercely independent pollster/pundit seeks to annoy all stripes this week. It was a mixed bag for President Obama this week. The U.S. was seriously 'dissed by two major powers -- China and Russia -- and the president chided them for not playing by the rules. But what is left for the world's remaining superpower to do? Go to war against Jupiter and Saturn (China and Russia) when we couldn't even make a dent in Pluto and Mercury (Iraq and Afghanistan)?
At the same time, the independent Conference Board places the Consumer Index at the highest level in five years and leading economists across the spectrum are projecting a 3 percent growth rate for 2014 and unemployment under 6 percent. He is on another major foreign trip and, while China has positioned itself well with its strategic African investments, Obama goes to a continent that has among the world's highest growth rates. Despite having dashed huge expectations on the continent, Obama is still seen as an historic figure -- something which will not be diminished by the death of African icon, Nelson Mandela.
The Supreme Court has upheld same sex marriages, a nail in the coffin of hardened conservatives. And while the president's approval numbers are upside down, they are still not that bad. A rebound week, but not a great one.