Talk about bullish consensus, the entire panel on this weekend's "Chris Matthews Show" felt that President Obama was going to be a big winner in the first quarter of this year making him the proverbial comeback kid.
Alex Wagner of Politics Daily went so far as to predict, "Obama’s going to be flying on angels wings two feet off the ground" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Well this week's a new era in Washington with Republicans in charge of the House and a stronger Republican presence in the Senate, which brings us to our big question this week: by spring, the end of this season, who will have the upper hand, President Obama or the Republicans running Capitol Hill? John.
JOHN HEILEMANN, NEW YORK MAGAZINE: I think president Obama’s going to be looking pretty good, and I think it’s partly to do with the economy, partly due to the fact that I think he’s going to have a big, bold State of the Union. I think Republicans will have capitulated on a few things like the debt ceiling in March.
HEILEMANN: I think that we’re going to have some strong job numbers I think in these first three months, at least what I’m hearing.
ALEX WAGNER, POLITICS DAILY: I'm in complete agreement with John. I think the economy's better, Obama’s going to be flying on angels wings two feet off the ground while they sort of scrum it out in Congress. I think he looks good, and I think that the public has confidence in him.
MATTHEWS: Whoa, Kelly.
KELLY O’DONNELL, NBC: Dare I be a part the Greek chorus here? I think that the President is due for a moment here.
MATTHEWS: Well, who’s going to be on top, him or the Rs?
O’DONNELL: Well, I'm going to say the President because I think there is a certain, seasonal, cyclical thing, and the Republicans will maybe lose a bit of steam.
MATTHEWS: What a fickle reality we live in.
CHUCK TODD, NBC: Here’s the irony: he's been on top the whole time, it's just been a race to the bottom. All this, so people's antipathy toward Congress isn't going to go away, so I will put a little bit of an edge on it.
MATTHEWS: You’re saying the Republicans are down the drain is what you’re saying.
TODD: No, I'm just saying that that’s what we've seen over the last two years and nothing's going to change it but Obama 2.0. Bringing in Daley. I was just going to say the honeymoon is going to get written.
MATTHEWS: The sign of life.
TODD: The comeback kid.
MATTHEWS: It’s a sign of life he can make big decisions not just promote people from within.
TODD: He did this himself.
HEILEMANN: And all of the bouncing out of the big December. That is the turning point that we’re going to look back on.
MATTHEWS: The ability to make moves constantly is the key. Thanks to a great roundtable, John Heilemann, Alex Wagner, Kelly O’Donnell, Chuck Todd.
When this many people on the same set so fervently agree about anything, the safe bet is they're all wrong.
Stay tuned.
