This is interesting. NBC and the Wall Street Journal commissioned a poll about the Obama Presidency. The numbers appear to show that Barack Obama is enjoying unprecedented support at a time when the Republican Party is seen as inept at solving economic problems. Well, that’s how the poll is reported at MSNBC. Here’s the first few paragraphs there:

Obama’s first six weeks as president, the American public’s attitudes about the two political parties couldn’t be more different, the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds.

Despite the country’s struggling economy and vocal opposition to some of his policies, President Obama’s favorability rating is at an all-time high. Two-thirds feel hopeful about his leadership and six in 10 approve of the job he’s doing in the White House.

“What is amazing here is how much political capital Obama has spent in the first six weeks,” said Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted this survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff. “And against that, he stands at the end of this six weeks with as much or more capital in the bank.”

By comparison, the Republican Party — which resisted Obama’s recently passed stimulus plan and has criticized the spending in his budget — finds its favorability at an all-time low. It also receives most of the blame for the current partisanship in Washington and trails the Democrats by nearly 30 percentage points on the question of which party could best lead the nation out of recession.

The poll was conducted by both Republican and Democratic pollsters and shows record numbers for Barack Obama. the American people show great confidence in him. That’s the lead as NBC writes it. But the Wall Street Journal sees things otherwise. They see the public manipulated by fear, perhaps, and they dig in the poll’s numbers to show the negatives, digging deeply. Here’s the WSJ lead paragraphs:

President Barack Obama enjoys widespread backing from a frightened American public for his ambitious, front-loaded agenda, a new poll indicates.

He is more popular than ever, Americans are hopeful about his leadership, and opposition Republicans are getting drubbed in public opinion, the new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll suggests.

But there are also early warning signs showing risks if his plans don’t show progress. The president’s support, while still deep, looks increasingly partisan as Republicans move away from him. Americans have more confidence in the president himself than in some of his initiatives, such as the economic stimulus package, and have some hesitation about his plans to raise taxes to expand health coverage.

The WSJ thinks the American people are scared, and that’s what motivates their love of Barack Obama. No, fear is what motivated George Bush’s big numbers justr after 9/11. Bush blew it with his disastrous policies concerning WMD and Iraq and huge deficits and an economy that crumbled at the end of his tenure. Sure, the Wall Street Journal almost always thought Bush farted roses, but when it comes to six weeks of Obama’s tenure, they think the American people are too frightened to think straight. This is partisan in the extreme, but not surprising for a very partisan paper like the WSJ.

The truth of the matter is that the Wall Street Journal is frightened. They are frightened of a plummeting stock market and they are frightened because of a tax increase on the horizon for the rich. They have forgotten the bubble the stock market rode through most of the Bush Presidency, a false sense of good feeling and high prices fueled by the greed of their real constituents, the bankers and the money managers.

The Wall Street Journal is scared, and even in a poll that is as optimistic as possible about President Obama, they project that fear. Of course, that fear is even more clearly reflected in WSJ blogs, like the WSJ blog written by Sara Murray, or the WSJ blog written by Susan Davis. Murray concedes the Obama popularity, but seeks desperately for bad news about the public’s confidence. Davis is just itching, just six weeks into the Obama Presidency, to start blaming the economic downturn on Obama. These guys are very predictable.

Let’s make sure to note that the NBC report on the poll also seeks dark clouds in the silver lining there, but they don’t lead with the dark cloouds as does the Wall Street Journal. They certainly don’t poise themselves eagerly to blame Barack Obama for bad news just six weeks into his Presidency, and I think the Wall Street Journal is forgetting a fundamental lesson about investing. The most important factor in the stock market is confidence. The Wall Street Journal’s reporting of these record numbers for Obama, their constant spin towards the negative, helps lead an investment community’s lack of confidence. Perhaps if we’re to blame anyone in the next few months for the downward spiral of the stock market and for a dismally performing economy, we should be blaming the Wall Street Journal and its partisan and negative spin.