Steve Benen dives into polling data and comes up empty:
When it comes to dealing with national challenges, the public prefers the president over congressional Republicans by five points. On the specific issues, the two are roughly tied on handling the economy, terrorism, and taxes; Republicans lead on deficit reduction; and Obama has a sizable advantage on health care and "helping the middle class."
It's impossible to deny the fact that Republicans had a very strong year electorally, but if the GOP thinks it has a strong national mandate to pursue a far-right agenda, the party is fundamentally confused about what happened last month.
But the talk radio right persists in telling its audience otherwise, so the confusion is bound to persist. Which will, of course, only help Obama. I will have to be forgiven for enjoying the sight of all the demons the GOP has unleashed these past two years finally turning around and biting them in the posterior.