The Atlantic Wire rounds up a lot of commentary suggesting that Barack Obama is in the midst of a comeback. It's largely from folks on the center left, and guess what? People on the right are arguing that, in fact, "there's no Obama comeback."

I'd pose these question to everyone who has made arguments on either side of the question: why does it possibly matter?

How can a professional pundit not know this?

It matters because journalists are narrative-driven, and if they think Obama’s back on top, their stories will be slanted to reflect this. He'll be a winner in their eyes: minor victories will be played-up, minor losses ignored.

For example of the opposite, see his coverage for the last few months: every loss is evidence of his failing administration, and even major victories are seen as outliers against the continuing pattern of failure. He's a loser. He's already failed. He should be primaried. He should step down. Blah blah blah.

And this stuff matters because most people don’t pay close attention to the daily details of politics, but they do have a sense of who’s winning or losing. And people like winners a lot more than they like losers.