Much of the chatter will focus on President Obama's relatively soft topline numbers (47% approve, 50% disapprove) and the utter discontent of GOP voters with their field of 2012 candidates, but this is what's really important:
Despite signs of economic growth, 44 percent of Americans see the economy as getting worse, the highest percentage to say so in more than two years.
And this:
Almost eight in 10 say inflation in their area is getting worse, and more than seven in 10 say higher gasoline prices is causing financial hardship at home.
Long-term fiscal policy is important, and maybe the economy will have miraculously healed itself by the middle of next year when the 2012 campaign really gets going, but unless it does, this debate over long-term fiscal policy will be but an asterisk, dwarfed by the debate over what must be done to get the economy moving now. And it's not just jobs—it's also personal income and the cost of things like gas. After all, what good's a job if you can't afford to get to work?