IT DOESN'T RAIN, IT POURS – AT 7:54 P.M. ET:  We're trying to find some geographic entity where the president's poll numbers have gone up.  No success.  And now the final insult, from Reuters:

A majority of people in the Arab world now hold a negative view of President Barack Obama and the United States in a substantial change from how he was seen at the start of his presidency, according to a public opinion poll released on Thursday.

Sixty-two percent hold a dim view of Obama and the United States compared with 20 percent who view them in a positive light, according to the 2010 Arab Public Opinion Poll released by Washington-based think tank The Brookings Institution.

We have to acknowledge that Mr. Obama did reach out to the Arab world, and has tried to show an understanding of Arab sensibilities.  This is the answer he gets.  It's the same old story:  We really have no friends in Islam.  We were told that at the founding of this republic.  Arab ambassadors, even in the late 1700s, made clear their belief that Islam had to take over the world.

Some American presidents never get it.  Peanut farmers are particularly vulnerable.

In a survey early in his presidency, only 23 percent of respondents in six countries expressed a negative view of Obama and the United States, while 45 percent were positive about the new administration, which took office in January 2009.

And get this:

Among other findings, a majority of the Arab public now see a nuclear-armed Iran as being better for the Middle East.

Pathetic.  At least their governments understand the danger that Iran poses. 

This was once a great civilization, with great art, philosophy and science.  But we must ask the oldest question in politics:  What have you done for me lately?  In fact, what have you done for us in the last 2,000 years? 

If Obama can't make it among the Arabs, no American leader can.

August 5, 2010