MICKEY KAUS: Did The Cordray Recess Power Play Backfire? “Why is Barack Obama’s approval number sinking again on both Gallup and Rasmussen? He hasn’t been in the news much–something that often helps him. Instead the focus has been on the fussing and feuding GOP candidates, the so-called ‘clown car.’ Could it be that the President’s brilliant populist power play of making a questionable recess appointment to the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau backfired? It certainly doesn’t seem to have helped. On January 2, the RealClearPolitics average put Obama one point underwater, with a disapproval rating of 47.8 and an approval of 46.8. He appointed Cordray on January 4. He’s now almost 6 points underwater.”

UPDATE: Reader Patrick Nugent writes:

Constitutionally suspect recess appointment moving the polls? I wish!

Now, a lavish Hawaiian vacation while most people are paring back on their kids’ presents… I suspect the family “political interventions” over the Holidays that the DNC promoted might not have achieved the desired results. I mean, the family is allowed a rebuttal, right?

Could be.