Jack's latest.

Jack Kelly's column today is surprisingly mild in it's indictment of Obama. Of course, it starts by comparing apples and oranges, but what else is new?

"Here's a data point that should give liberals pause: There is no statistically significant difference between the proportion of Americans who think ill of Sarah Palin and the proportion of Americans who disapprove of the job Barack Obama is doing as president.”

(Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09214/987773-373.stm#ixzz0N3R2c2Uq)

Two PJ's ends some time on how Kelly's gets the numbers wrong (by making a comparison across two polls reaching different people, for example), but there's something more, I think. Is it the same think to "think ill of" versus disapproving of current job performance? I think that disliking a person is pretty unambiguous, but disapproving of job performance? That can include the people who think Obama is a socialist (likely Palin voters) versus people who think Obama is asking the Republicans to participate too much (not likely Palin voters). It could include groups that think healthcare/insurance does not need to be reformed and people who would like to see much more reform than Obama is asking for(perhaps including that Palin constituency, the rural poor, who tend not to have healthinsurance).

But Kelly really wants to set up an equivalency between Palin and Obama. Why? Because Kelly wants Palin to be the Republican candidate in 2012. Oddly, we can guess that Obama and his campaign would likely prefer to run against Sarah Palin as well.

I think wanting Palin to run in 2012 is why Kelly says that the now lost healthcare battle (and Kelly considers healthcare lost because it’s August and there’s no healthcare bill out of Congress) is not the end of Obama’s Presidency. I suspect that Kelly actually thinks it is a major blow to Obama, and the Republicans are going to make Obama their bitch, to order around as they please. In particular Kelly thinks that because he is at pains to tell us 66 new Congresspersons were elected in districts that voted for either George Bush or John McCain. Kelly figures those Congresspersons have already deserted Obama.

But as Kelly himself pointed out, Clinton survived a perhaps worse health care debacle. And because of Republican over-reach” (Kelly’s phrase) , Clinton was able to have a pretty good Presidency.

I think Kelly thinks Obama is going to be a one term President and soon we will have President Palin. I think that’s really unlikely, at least the President Palin part. But Jack is entitled to his fantasies, and apparently thinks we as well (entitled to his fan.. ta …sies).