For the past several days, various folks in the media have cited a Gallup poll that found 49% of respondents disapprove of President Obama's "handling" of health care policy. I've seen Bill O'Reilly note the numbers, I've seen them used on CNN and this morning, the poll was referenced on Meet the Press.

I'm a liberal Democrat and I have found no problems with anything headed toward the final bill, but if Gallup were to have called me and if I had answered correctly instead of dumbing-down my reply, I unfortunately probably would've fallen into the disapproved camp.

Again, my response would not have been a reflection of the legislative content, but instead, it might have reflected that I wasn't sure such an important bill should've been written by Congress or by a subcommittee comprised of an equal number, Democrats to Republicans.

I remember back to the primaries, when Hillary hit Obama with the idea that pretty speeches don't make policy and Obama replied that the bully pulpit could effectively be used to push public opinon and the Congress into the right direction. But, it wasn't until this past week that President Obama took to the stage and eloquently argued for reform.

IOW: While I agree with the President's goals and have no real problems with anything I've heard, if Gallup had called me and if I had answered their simplistic question honestly: "Do you approve or disapprove of the way Barack Obama is handling healthcare policy?" those who oppose reform and the idiots in the media would've counted me as being against the President.

And, though there may not be a tremendous number of people who would've taken the question so literally, when you have a division of just 6% and an error margin of four, then it seems that every vote should accurately count. Not to mention that by having a question open to such a broad interpretation, the exercise seems meaningless and the results could easily be dismissed.