Grade: B+

Another good week for the president. His job approval is at 53 percent in the latest Zogby Poll, and 50 percent of U.S. voters are optimistic about the next four years.

Substantially more voters trust Mr. Obama on the budget and fiscal cliff crisis than trust Republicans in Congress, and a solid majority feel that the president and Congress have a mandate to act on the president's agenda.

To cap off this good week, unemployment numbers showed strength with new-job growth at an unexpected level of 146,000 and the monthly unemployment rate dipping to 7.7 percent.

Chinks in the Republicans' armor of the no-tax-increase pledge continue to show, and the president has the stronger hand. Still no deal, but it is beginning to look more and more as if there will be one.

Last week's grade: A