Obama overtakes LBJ's legislative score

From Eleanor Clift, Contributing Editor, Newsweek

The Republican riff on President Obama's first year is that he hasn't accomplished anything, that he's all hat and no cattle, to borrow a phrase from the Bush years. At the same time, conservatives yowl that all the socialistic programs and policies he's put in place are destroying the country. Which is it? He can't be both unaccomplished and accomplishing his nefarious agenda at the same time. It's like that old Borscht Belt joke where one elderly lady complains about how awful the food is and her friend responds, "Yes, and the portions are too small."

But to Republicans who joke Obama has done nothing, and to Obama's liberal critics who vent about the same, a study done by Congressional Quarterly suggests they are both wrong. CQ rates Obama higher than any president in the last five decades in working his will on Capitol Hill, surpassing even the fabled Lyndon Johnson. Obama's success rate in the House and Senate on votes where he staked out a clear position was 96.7 percent, beating previous record-holder Johnson's 93 percent in 1965.

This kind of statistical finding begs for more analysis. If Obama is doing so great, why does it feel like Democrats are staring into the abyss?

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