Nearing $5 gas in Chicago. Obama Approval Plunges. Hold your Horses

Chicago Breaking News, with mitigating greenie and mass transit plugs for The One. Of course much of the country can't get to work using mass transit and greenie cars are expensive, impractical in the cold and over distance, not to mention having to charge up with electricity probably powered by coal plants.

What's the approval around the country look like, hmm?

...For most of us a horse is not an option. And even in Chicago where some view them romantically other picky urbanites protest.

More. The Hill:

Inflation is a big concern for Americans, and the rising price of gasoline appears to be fueling that anxiety, according to a new poll conducted for The Hill.

Sixty-two percent of 1,000 likely voters polled last Thursday said they were “very concerned” about inflation, and another 26 percent said they were “somewhat concerned,” leaving very few Americans who are not worried about rising prices. [snip]

The depth of concern runs consistently through age and race. Sixty-six percent who are ages 40-64 and 56 percent of blacks said they are “very concerned” about inflation.

HT Memeorandum. The misery index brought down Jimmy Carter. I remember. I was a wet behind the ears Carter voter just out of college. The next election I voted Reagan.

Younger Americans have never seen inflation. But chronic unemployment or underemployment in their ranks, coupled with rising prices, including food, Food!, may cause another such sea change among this group which, along with now disaffected independents, put Obama over the top in 2008.

And don't think Clinton's recipe for success after his first midterm loss will necessarily work either.

(...Obama trying the class warfare tack again):

In his speech Wednesday, Mr. Obama will use himself as an example to make the case for raising taxes on the wealthy, while preserving those for the middle class. "People like him, as he'll say, who've been very fortunate in life, have the ability to pay a little bit more," Mr. Plouffe said.

Eliminating the Bush tax cuts for the highest earners, however, will only put a small dent in the projected deficit.

Republicans contend that raising top rates would hurt small businesses and cut into cash that might otherwise turn into consumer spending. Mr. Ryan said on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday that "If you go down the tax increase path you're sacrificing the economy."

As Andrew Sullivan says, taxing "the rich" is not enough...More here.