The new NBC/WSJ poll is out, showing that President Obama has climbed to a 50 percent approval rating and he now leads Mitt Romney among likely voters by a slight but still statistically significant 5 percentage points (which is approaching, at least, the profoundly significant), and, yet, nothing has really changed, according to co-pollster (and Republican) Bill McInturff, who says:
If you look at ’04 as a model, ’04 was really close. And that’s how we should continue to think about the campaign.
Let me get this straight. Although President Barack Obama is, thankfully, no George W. Bush; and though Mitt Romney is certainly no John Kerry; and even though this recovering economy, so recently wrecked by George & Friends, is recovering to the extent that it is because of Obama's efforts; and despite the present absence of that disastrous, godawful Iraq war; and notwithstanding that we've no president at the moment who's trying to frighten the patriotic bejesus out of the electorate; and granted the Republican Party has now had an additional eight years to demonstrate that it is, incontrovertibly, fucking nuts--despite all that, despite every surging, immense difference between 2004 and 2012, we should "look at '04 as a model" and consequently conclude that this is a similarly close, ever-so-close race.
I give up after all. Nothing, obviously nothing is going to change the "professional narrative" of a "nail-biter" among too many pundits and pollsters.
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p.s.: I added the above, last link once I realized the earlier promise was only fleeting.