Barack Obama's first year anniversary is this week. Obama will cross that threshold with his public standing ranking in the lower third of the eleven presidents in the post-World War II era. The most striking fact, looking back at Obama's first year approval rating, is the rate of his decline. In the post-war era, only Gerald Ford's public standing plummeted more than Obama's. Below is Obama's approval rating in historical context, as well as a sense of what his persona evokes in the American mind today.