YEEEELLLOOOOW Mighty Minions and welcome to this week’s leading opinions and news…

Enough with Barack.  How’s Michelle Obama doing?  50% of Minions say good to great; 50% say lame.  Minions appear to be tougher critics than Americans at large.

A scientific poll just released by the Pew Research Center shows that Michelle Obama gets a thumbs up by 71% of Americans.  That’s 7 points higher than Laura Bush had early in GW’s first year and 11 points higher than Hillary in Bill’s first year. 

Beyond the first wives club, Michelle also gets higher favorability ratings than Barack by 6 points.  But then, he’s had a tough time lately and has seen his approval rating drop from 79% in January ‘09 to 65% in the latest poll.

Michelle has planted a garden, demonstrated the hula hoop and pushed for fitness among chubby kids.  Beyond that, she’s pretty much stayed out of the limelight.  Maybe that’s the secret to success or maybe it’s an expectation that our first ladies do charity work and leave it at that, not that that’s a bad thing.  But it should probably be something more.

Got any advice for our first lady?

A new kid on the Senate block from Massachusetts named Scott Brown shook up the political scene last week, but that was no surprise to 55% of Minions.

Maybe most Minions weren’t surprised, but the White House was.  Now Brown, who calls himself an “Independent Republican,” has single handedly busted the 60-seat super majority in the Senate and pushed health care reform back to square one.  He defeated state Attorney General Martha Coakley (D) 52% to 47% in a state where Democrats outweigh Republicans by three to one, and where Ted Kennedy held the seat for decades.  Who would have thunk it?

By all accounts Coakley was a train wreck who took her campaign for granted, forgetting there was one.  But Obama takes some of the blame saying “we lost some of that sense of speaking directly to the American people about what their core values are and why we have to make sure those institutions are matching up with those values.  I think the assumption was if I just focus on policy, if I just focus on this provision or that law or if we’re making a good rational decision here, then people will get it.”

People will get it?  Get this Obama.  People want a healthy economy with good jobs.  That’s job #1.  Add safety from crackpot terrorists and then worry about health care.  And if you can’t do all three at once, then start with jobs, Jobs, JOBS.  Got it?

What say you?

46% of Minions donated money to the victims of Haiti.  That’s a big number, especially when you consider the fact that 27% say I can’t afford heat. 

Some people say that something good comes out of every tragedy if you look hard enough.  And even though times are tough here for many, contributions to Haiti have been huge and are running well over $125 million so far.

So our economy isn’t great and everyone knows someone who could use a leg up.  But we’re not Haiti.  And we’re generous.  That’s a good thing.

By mistake you get change for a $20 instead of a $10.  While 27% would take the money and run, 73% would speak up.

Safe to say that the vast majority of Minions would do the right thing.  Even so, there’s probably a limit for most.  Change for a $20 is one thing.  Change for $100 is another.  

What’s your tipping point?

US life expectancy has hit 78 years.  Chalk it up to good living or living large, but most Minions say I’ll live longer (65%).

What’s more, 80% of Minions say life is too short.  So despite a few bumps in the road now and then, Minions are in pretty good spirits.

So what the heck.  Throw the dice, take a chance and enjoy the day.  Chances are, you’ll get a do-over tomorrow if today doesn’t turn out quite the way you want. 

The following pic serves no purpose whatsoever other than to put a smile on your face.  Enjoy.

MinionMonitor won the lottery and will be tanning in Tahiti for a few weeks while working on new improvements to the website. 

(Actually we really didn’t win the lottery but we are working on the site).  Questions will temporarily wrap up this Friday, 1/29, and resume shortly.

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Thanks for your support and have a great Minion week!