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LOOKING FORWARD….In a way, I’m not surprised that Barack Obama’s popularity has remained strong. He’s a charismatic guy in the first place, he’s handled the transition with very little rancor and an apparently sincere dedication to working across the aisle, and people are naturally hopeful about a new guy coming to office when times are bad.

Still, it’s pretty eye-opening that optimism is running as far ahead of past precedent as this New York Times poll shows. Tellingly, though, people are considerably more optimistic about Obama’s ability to fix the economy and withdraw from Iraq than they are about his ability to fix the healthcare system. Only a bare majority thinks he’ll make any serious progress at all on healthcare in his first term. I hope the American public turns out to be less than prescient in that regard.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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