From Saturday’s NYTimes, comes this:

September 26, 2009, Obama’s Tortoise Tactics, By CHARLES M. BLOW

Has President Obama outsmarted us all?

This was conservatives’ seething summer of discontent and unhinged hysteria: town halls, tea parties and tirades. They captured headlines and gained momentum. Misinformation ran amuck. President Obama’s approval ratings tumbled. Through it all, Obama maintained a Pollyannaish, laissez-faire disposition. Some found this worrisome. Others, like me, even thought it weak. But maybe not so fast.

According to Gallup poll results released on Wednesday, the president’s approval rating has stopped falling and has leveled out in the low-50 percents, about the same as Ronald Reagan’s and Bill Clinton’s at this point in their presidencies (both two-termers, lest we forget).

The United Nations General Assembly and the G-20 summit have catapulted Obama back onto the world stage where leaders treat him like the best jock in the high school cafeteria. Even his adversaries praise him. His leadership in these forums to tighten the screws on Iran for its nuclear programs project a presidential certitude and sense of steel and authority that was sorely needed and sorely missed.

Furthermore, after Dick Cheney’s thrashing and whining about the Obama administration making us less safe, a rash of recent terror arrests has sent the signal that the aggressive pursuit of terror suspects remains a top priority.

Then there is the interminable health care debate. It seems that the Republican babble may have backfired.

According to a poll released last week by the Pew Research Center, most Americans think that the health care debate has been “rude and disrespectful” and most of those who hold this view blame the opponents of the proposed legislation.

Obama told “60 Minutes” last week that if a health care bill passes, “I own it.” But, if it fails, the Republicans will own it.

According to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll published on Wednesday, a plurality of respondents said that if health care reform fails, the Republicans will be at fault. Those who disapproved of the way that Republicans are handling the health care debate outnumbered those who approved of their behavior by a margin of more than 3 to 1.

And, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll released on Thursday, more people said Republican opposition to Obama’s health care proposals is politically motivated than those who said that Democratic support of them is politically motivated.

Maybe Obama was wise to hang back. While anger can simmer forever, overheated outrage is exhausting and ultimately counterproductive.

Anyone familiar with Aesop’s fable “The Tortoise and the Hare” surely remembers this lesson: slow and steady wins the race. I was beginning to think of Obama as the hare, but maybe he’s the tortoise.