Eugene David<br>...The One-Minute Pundit

Posted 11:47 AM by Gene

It was only 13 years ago that Bill Clinton declared before a joint session of Congress that “the era of big government is over.” President Obama’s challenge on Tuesday night is to declare that, out of ugly necessity, big government is back — and then to make a persuasive case, with a specificity he has avoided until now, that if done right, this era will not last for long.

Co-President Babs says good luck!

The same New York Times/CBS News poll that found that Mr. Obama instills a remarkable sense of confidence — 76 percent of Americans say they think he will make the right economic decisions — also found that Americans dislike many of the choices he has made thus far.

Fifty-nine percent said that the bank bailout would help bankers far more than it would help the country. More than two-thirds had no stomach for bailing out G.M. and Chrysler, even if the alternative is liquidating the companies.

Though we detest public opinion polls as the hacks have fashioned them into blunt instruments to beat us silly we wonder if, in carefully controlled doses, they might still be useful. Then again we wonder if they contain so many quirks and paradoxes as to be useless except as blunt instruments.