The result from the most recent Public Policy Polling Survey that's getting all the attention is that only 50% of voters now say the prefer having Barack Obama with 44% preferring Geroge W. Bush.

But more interesting to me are these results:

On health care, only 39% approve of Obama's health care plan, with 52% opposed. On Afghanistan, 47% support Obama, with 37% opposed. In other words: Obama's hawkish foreign policy move--one he made reluctantly and hesitantly--is reasonably popular. His big government health care proposal--which he's spent months promoting as his central effort--just gets more and more unpopular.

My conclusion: If Obama knew what was good for him, he'd spend much more time embracing and emphasizing the Afghanistan surge, and would let his grandiose health care plan die, coming back with moderate reforms in 2010.

But being a liberal means never acknowledging being mugged by reality.