Everybody Loves Barack

I know every president-elect enjoys a honeymoon period, but this is sort of ridiculous:

Eighty-two percent of those questioned in a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released Wednesday morning approve of the way the Obama is handling his presidential transition. That’s up 3 points from when we asked this question at the beginning of December. Fifteen percent of those surveyed disapprove of the way Obama’s handling his transition, down 3 points from our last poll.

The 82 percent approval is higher than then President-elect George W. Bush 8 years ago, who had a 65 percent transition approval rating, and Bill Clinton, at 67 percent in 1992.

The poll also suggests that the public approves of the President-elect’s cabinet nominees, with 56 percent of those questioned saying Obama’s appointments have been outstanding or above average, with 32 percent feeling the picks have been average, and 11 percent saying Obama’s choices have been below average or poor.

That 56 percent figure is 18 points higher than those who said then President-elect Bush’s cabinet appointments were outstanding or above average and 26 points higher than those who felt the same way about then President-elect Clinton’s nominees.

So what does this mean? I think it means that Obama can pretty much get whatever he wants for the first year of his presidency. That possibly means universal health care, an aggressive economic stimulus plan and stronger environmental regulations in the near future.