Ira Stoll on the Obama Paradox

Call it the Obama paradox: He's been a failure as a president, but he looks headed for reelection, anyway. Sure, things could change between now and November if there's a stock-market plunge, a scandal, an Iranian nuclear test, or a truly game-changing moment in one of the presidential debates. It's possible the polls showing Obama leading Mitt Romney both nationwide and in battleground states are all inaccurate, or that a final tidal wave of television commercials by the Romney campaign and its allies will be able to change the dynamic of the campaign, the same way Romney recovered after surges by Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum in the primaries. 

But if Obama is reelected, writes Ira Stoll, how can it possibly be explained?