Obama in the Americas

Mitofsky's annual poll of heads of state is out, and it places Obama with a starkly middling 52 percent approval rating among citizens of the Western Hemisphere. Felipe Calderón checked in with 62 percent approval. The highest rated leaders were El Salvador's Mauricio Funes (84 percent approval), Brazil's Lula (81 percent), Michelle Bachelet (78 percent), Ricardo Martinelli of Panama (77 percent), and Álvaro Uribe (70 percent).