Plus, USA Today uses a misleading headline on the same article. But other than that, great effort.

Here's the headline:

Poll: More blame Obama for poor economy, unemployment

When I read the headline I assumed that the poll had found that Americans were blaming Obama “more” than anyone else for the poor economy. Meaning, the blame for the bad economy had finally shifted from president Bush to Obama. And yes, that would certainly qualify as news.

Well, turns out that according to the USA Today/Gallup poll, an overwhelming number of Americans still say Bush deserves a “great deal” of the blame for the poor economy, which to me would be the news article's lead, especially given the fact that Obama's opponents for months have been claiming Americans blame Obama entirely for high unemployment, etc.

They don't.

So what does the “more” in the headline refer to? It simply refers to the fact that more Americans blame Obama today (26 percent says he deserves a “great deal”) than did last summer, which makes perfect sense since the longer Obama is in office the more likely it is that voters will hold him responsible. That progression is completely expected and predictable. i.e. It aint news. Because guess what, six months from now even more Americans will hold Obama responsible.

So why did USA Today make that pedestrian fact the lead, and why did it run such a misleading headline on the story? The fact is that nearly 16 months after leaving office, a strong plurality of Americans still blame Bush for the poor economy.

That's the lead, and that should have been the headline.