PAY NO ATTENTION TO THAT SILLY GENERAL PUBLIC

Jeff Zeleny in The New York Times:

It was one year ago that Mr. McCain declared "the fundamentals of our economy are strong," a remark Mr. Obama instantly seized upon to portray his Republican rival as out of touch with hardships facing Americans. The argument helped Mr. Obama win the White House, where he inherited an economic crisis. Now, he fully owns it.

Right -- nexcept that the public doesn't agree that he fully owns it:

A new AP/GfK poll finds that 80% of Americans rate the condition of the economy as poor.... In a silver lining for President Obama, only 20% blame him for the economic crisis, compared to 54% who blame George W. Bush, and 19% who blame Bill Clinton.

Also:

Again this month, a Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 39% say the bad economy is caused more by Obama’s policies, but 55% blame President Bush. These findings are unchanged from the previous two months.

Christ, if even Rasmussen can't manage to cook the books to pin this on Obama -- and that poll was conducted in August, when Obama-bashing was reaching critical mass -- then I think it's fair to say that the public would still like to have a word with the economy's previous owner.