CHANGE: Cyber-Security Czar Quits Amid Fears of NSA Takeover.

MY FATHER ASKS FOR NOTHING.

RASMUSSEN:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows that 39% of the nation’s voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-one percent (31%) Strongly Disapprove to give Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of +8 (see trends). Ratings for Congressional performance have moved up, but just 19% of voters believe any significant legislation has been passed to improve their lives over the past year.

Voters are evenly divided in their reaction to President Obama’s proposed budget. However, 75% are concerned that it will lead to too much government spending. . . . Forty-nine percent (49%) of voters nationwide say the President should hold off on health care reform until the economy is better. Forty-two percent (42%) disagree and say the time to act is now.

Read the whole thing.

DEPRESSIONS LOOK DIFFERENT when the country is really rich.

HEH: Protester throws shoe at Ahmadinejad.

IN THE MAIL: Richard Morgan’s new novel, The Steel Remains. Rather than noir SF like his Takeshi Kovacs novels, this is epic fantasy.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG isn’t into the class warfare stuff: “The rich are the ones that go to the expensive restaurants where, as a matter of fact, I looked at a list the other day of restaurants where the staff is unionized. They’re the expensive restaurants. They’re not the cheap restaurants. You know, the yelling and screaming about the rich – we want rich from around this country to move here. We love the rich people.”

PHOTOBLOG: The Road to Little Rock.

GLOBAL WARMING FEARS translate into tax increases.

PETER ROBINSON ON the disillusionment of the Obamacons. “The elite journalists, I repeat, got Obama wrong. The troglodytes got him right. As our national drama continues to unfold, bear that in mind.”

UPDATE: George W. Obama?

MORE: A.P.: Obama Recovery Plans Sowing Unease. “Although the administration likes to say it ‘inherited’ the recession and trillion-dollar deficits, the economic wreckage has worsened on Obama’s still-young watch.”

STILL MORE: Obamacons as Otter.

MORE STILL: A reader emails: “Obamacons aren’t Otter ….they’re Flounder. Obama is Otter.” Well, they’re both — as relates to Obama, they’re Flounder. As relates to anyone who believed their stuff, they’re Otter.

SPRINKLES of hope.

AT WIRED, worrying about National Security “Storm Troopers.” Hmm. I thought this kind of over-the-top talk would end with the Bush Administration.

IF YOU’LL BE ATTENDING ONE OF THE TEA PARTY PROTESTS scheduled for today, please send me pics and reports. Also, please copy the pics to .

ALAN BOYLE: Your guide to exoplanets. “The planet-hunting game is shifting into high gear with the launch of NASA’s $591 million Kepler mission, but how can you possibly keep track of all those alien worlds without a program? Fortunately, the Planetary Society has just the thing: a free online catalog of exoplanets that will keep up with a tally expected to escalate into the thousands.”

I love it, but when will somebody invent the warp drive? Or, heck, the Manschenn Drive, I’m not choosy. Gilpin Space?

PRESIDENTIAL POWERS: Obama Channels Cheney. Now there’s a surprise. . . .

UPDATE: HMM: “I think it’s worth noting that Rush Limbaugh, the infamous crazy-person to whom, according to the president, we listen only at our great peril, has been saying for weeks that Obama would adopt Bush’s national-security policies — especially in the area of secrecy — because Obama wants to take advantage of these very policies. Where does Rush come up with this nutty stuff?”

STUART TAYLOR: Obama’s Left Turn.

HERE’S A REPORT ON YESTERDAY’S “TEA PARTY” PROTEST IN SALT LAKE CITY, from the Deseret News:

Conjuring the fighting spirit of the country’s founders, a large group of defiant protesters gathered on the west steps of the Capitol rotunda Friday for a “tea party” modeled after the Boston Tea Party of more than 200 years ago. . . . The event was part of what has become known as the Tea Party Movement, a series of rallies and demonstrations taking place in cities around the country to protest increased taxes, budget deficits, the recently passed federal stimulus package and trillion-dollar bailouts of the financial and auto industries. . . . Many in the crowd were there to prompt state lawmakers to pass HJR17, a joint resolution urging Congress to reject any future bailout legislation and stop spending money the federal government does not have.

More Salt Lake City coverage here.

PROFESSOR JOHN MCGINNIS on originalism.

MELTDOWN.

MATT WELCH: So, Is Human Rights Watch “Neocon” Now, Too?

Neocons — they’re everywhere you want them to be!

MICKEY KAUS: “So it was Begala and Carville’s idea for the White House to go after Rush Limbaugh? Hmm. No one can read Bob Woodward’s The Agenda and go away impressed with Begala’s judgment. He’s overcombative and underadaptive. And weren’t he and Carville Hillary people? So why is Obama letting these underemployed publicity-craving operatives mess around with his administration?”

UPDATE: Reader Stephen Clark writes: “Well Glenn, for years, Bush’s control of the White House and policy was questioned because it was assumed he was too stupid. Isn’t time to question Obama’s control due to apparent cluelessness and inexperience?”

Or just not that into governing:

So if the report is accurate that others are crafting his political strategy (just like the Pelosi-Reid machine is drafting his legislation), it should should come as no surprise. George W. Bush was lambasted for poor management skills and excessive delegation. But that was nothing — Obama has delegated the entire task of governing. He will keep the campaigning for himself.

We’ll see how that works out, if so.

REUTERS CALLS THINGS GRIM: “President Barack Obama tried to highlight some good news and tout his economic plan on Friday, but the grim reality of plunging employment and faltering stock markets once again stepped on his message.”

SOUNDS LIKE BUSH ON IRAQ: Obama on stimulus: ‘I know we did the right thing’.

HEIGHTENING THE CONTRADICTIONS: “The contrast is no longer between the young, personable, historic candidate Obama and a creaky, cranky old Republican White Guy, it’s between what America thought it was getting in a President Obama (cool, reasonable and beyond partisanship) and what it now sees as the reality of a President Obama (government spending out of control, an uncertain hand on foreign policy, broken promises, more bureaucrats, etc. etc.). Put another way – what we see now is neither what we were promised, nor what we expected.”

UPDATE: Speaking of contradictions: A Reid/Pelosi swearing match.

MORE “TEA PARTY” NEWS.

Plus, a news story on plans for a rally tomorrow in Green Bay. Video at the link.

And, another case of tea party spirit going local: 350 People Attend Anti County Government Tea Party in Yonkers.

And a bumper sticker? Or maybe it should be this one.

UPDATE: A list of protests scheduled for tomorrow, in case one is near you. L.A., Monterey, Kansas City, South Florida, Boise, Harrisburg, and more.