WILL OBAMA'S POPULARITY GET A FLAT TIRE? - AT 10:08 A.M. ET:  To our dismay, we've been watching President Obama's popularity rise in recent weeks, and, according to Rasmussen, even get a bump upward following the selection of Sonia Sotomayer to the Supreme Court.  We've asked ourselves if we have a Teflon president, who rises in popularity no matter what he does, or its outcome.  We've also asked ourselves whether the media's love affair with the president has now become a serious barrier to any rational discussion of the Obama record.

But Byron York, writing in the increasingly important Washington Examiner, believes the GM bankruptcy may be a tipping point, the moment when the tire starts to deflate:

Observers across the political spectrum have marveled at Barack Obama's ability to maintain a high job approval rating even as the public grows skeptical about some of his key policy initiatives. There's a feeling, among Republicans at least, that sooner or later he’s going to reach a tipping point between his personal popularity and the unpopularity of his proposals, and that his job approval rating will suffer.

And...

We might be catching a glimpse of Obama’s tipping point with his handling of General Motors' bankruptcy, and Chrysler's before it. The government takeover of the automakers is by far the most unpopular thing Obama has done so far. And it's not just unpopular -- it is partisan, appealing to the base of his party and virtually no one else.

Trouble is, the base of  his party includes a good chunk of the media.  However...

Among Republicans, 72 percent disapproved. Sixty-six percent of independents -- a group key to Obama's success -- disapproved. The only group to approve of continued bailouts to the automakers was Democrats, by 57 percent to 42 percent.

And...

At the moment, the auto situation seems not to have affected the president's job approval rating. It's still high -- around 60 percent in the latest RealClearPolitics average of polls. But opposition is slowly solidifying. The RealClearPolitics average shows the number of those who disapprove of Obama's job performance has grown from 20 percent in his first week to 32 percent today.

Now, with the government takeover of the car companies, we have a major policy initiative from the Obama White House. And people don't like it.

In the months to come, we'll have more major initiatives. Besides health care and energy, there will be education and a decision on the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay. Can Obama stay at 60 percent approval through all that? The tipping point draws nearer.

COMMENT:  Dick Morris predicts that the popularity crunch for Obama will come in about four months, when the results of his own policies kick in, and he can no longer blame Bush.  The key issue will be whether the press completely collapses and becomes part of the Obama rescue mission.  You can be sure NBC will be there, and probably The New York Times. 

June 2, 2009