SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:   

JOE BIDEN'S "TITANIC" MOMENT – FROM DAILY MAIL:    President Joe Biden's approval rating is 10 points behind President Barack Obama's at this point in Obama's presidency, as Biden's numbers have been battered by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, among other issues.   The Real Clear Politics polling average for Obama on October, 11 2009 stood at 53 per cent approval and 40 per cent disapproval, while Biden currently stands at 43 per cent approval and 52.3 per cent disapproval.  A new Axios/Ipsos poll released Tuesday found that Americans are getting more pessimistic about the pandemic, and losing trust in Biden at the same time.   The poll found that currently 42 per cent of Americans surveyed trusted Biden a great deal or a fair amount on COVID-19.   That number, however, represents a seven per cent drop from last month and a 10 per cent drop from six months ago.   It was 16 points higher when Biden was sworn-in in January. 
Biden is also losing ground among members of his own party.    While 81 per cent of Democrats surveyed said they trusted Biden a fair amount, only one in three said they trusted the Democratic president 'a great deal.'   In June 45 per cent of Democrats said they trusted Biden on COVID-19 'a great deal.'   Generally, Americans believed returning to their 'normal, pre-COVID life,' is getting farther away, the Axios/Ipsos poll found.  A nation in gloom.  It reminds me of the Jimmy Carter period, when the pundits spoke of a great national malaise.  Of course, Carter was a big part of that malaise.  It seemed to end when he departed Washington and Ronald Reagan moved in.  I'm not so sure that the current malaise can end on Biden's watch, or on Kamala's.  The country is ripe for another Reagan, but I don't see him.   

October 12, 2021