Avoiding Disaster

The state of the economy is considered the main determinant of presidential approval; Bernstein takes a stab at why politicians bother governing at all:

No, Barack Obama will not win any votes if he manages to "win" inAfghanistan, whatever that actually means.  But he'll lose plenty ofvotes if Americans continue to die there in ever-increasing numbers. He'll also lose votes if Americans leave, the Taliban takes over andshelters bin Laden, and that allows more devastating terror...