Would that I were so confident!

Survey Reveals Broad Support for President
By JEFF ZELENY and MEGAN THEE-BRENAN
Published: February 23, 2009; NYT
President Obama is benefiting from remarkably high levels of optimism and confidence among Americans about his leadership, providing him with substantial political clout as he confronts the nation’s economic challenges and opposition from nearly all Republicans in Congress, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.
[Read Complete Poll Results]

3. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Barack Obama is handling the economy?
2/18-22/09 Approve: 57%; Disapprove: 32%; DK/NA: 11%

26. How confident are you in Barack Obama's ability to make the right decisions about the economy — are you very confident, somewhat confident, not too confident, or not at all confident?
2/18-22/09 Very: 31%; Somewhat: 45%; Not too: 15%; Not at all: 8%; DK/NA: 1%

76% are at least "somewhat confident" in President Obama's ability to make the right decisions about the economy.

Me? I'd say 76% rather over-represents my subjective assessment of President Obama's ability to make the right decisions about the economy... but then, it's not clear that I would award an omniscient, omnipotent Economist the benefit of the doubt here, either.
Who knows the right thing to do under current conditions?

9. How would you rate the condition of the national economy these days? Is it very good, fairly good, fairly bad or very bad?
2/18-22/09 Very Good: -%; Fairly Good: 8%; Fairly Bad: 30%; Very Bad: 61%; DK/NA: 1%

12. How long do you think the current recession will last — six months, a year, two years or more than two years?
2/18-22/09 6 mos: 6%; 1 yr: 27%; 2 yrs: 28%; >2 yrs: 35%; DK/NA: 4%

20. Are you generally optimistic or pessimistic about the next four years with Barack Obama as President?
2/18-22/09 optimistic: 77%; pessimistic: 18%; DK/NA: 5%

These last three intrigue me. 91% assess the economy as at best "fairly bad", and 63% believe the current mess will last at least 2 years...
BUT: 77% are generally optimistic about the next 4 years with Obama as President! - Apparently folks really do think he'll do okay.

Again, I'm not so sanguine.