Gallup: Bush Most Unpopular President Since Nixon

Sure, the headline has the typical low bar for Bush:

Bush Presidency Closes With 34% Approval, 61% Disapproval

We're so used to it, it barely registers. But the numbers show a couple of things:

1. Republicans are different than you and me and the rest of America:

Bush mainly has members of his own party to thank for the fact that he is ending his presidency with an approval rating above 30%. Republicans' approval of him rose from 67% in mid-December to 75% in the current poll -- their highest rating of Bush in nearly a year. By contrast, approval of Bush remains extremely scarce among Democrats, and continues to fall under 30% among independents.

2. Only Nixon  (-42) had a worse net approval than Bush (-27). Not Carter (-21). Not Truman (-24). Not Clinton (+37, better than Reagan's +34). Only Nixon.

Over time, Bush's numbers are supposed to get better as he gets the 'thank God he's out of office' bounce. But in his case, my prediction is that the numbers will only get worse as more of his failures come to light. On that, we'll see. But on his historically low performance, well, that we know now.

It tells us something about the job Obama has ahead of him in closing the partisan gap. It's well worth the attempt, but not worth sacrificing everything to get there. Some of these folks will simply have to make it back to reality on their own.