Healthcare Victory Tempered by Afghan Troop Surge Planning

Pollster John Zogby updates our weekly Obama Report Card with a grade on the president's performance. Zogby uses his polling, expert analysis, and interaction with major players to come up with a grade that captures how he sees the president's week ending.

John Zogby on Week 43:

"House passage of a healthcare bill should have been a major positive for the president, but that is not how it feels. The two-vote squeaker in the House came with the big cost of outraging abortion rights advocates due to inclusion of the Stupak-Pitts Amendment. Now, abortion is added to the public option as possible poison pills in the Senate. Obama weighed in mildly against the abortion restriction, but he will need to take a stronger stand and risk alienating one side or the other in the abortion war. Obama is still weighing options on Afghanistan troop levels, which some take as a sign of weakness; but he has no easy options from which to choose."

This Week's Grade: C+

Last week: C

John Zogby is president and CEO of Zogby International, a public opinion, research, and business solutions firm with experience in more than 70 countries. Founded and led by Zogby since 1984, Zogby International specializes in telephone, Internet, and face-to-face survey research and analysis for corporate, political, nonprofit, and governmental clients. The firm is headquartered in Utica, N.Y. John Zogby also is the author of The Way We'll Be: The Zogby Report on the Transformation of the American Dream (Random House).