John Thune was just on Morning Joe trying to say that the president's approval numbers are due to the American people giving the president "lots of latitude" and that (paraphrasing) he better start working with the Republicans -- or else!
If this were true, the Republicans wouldn't be only slightly more popular than Dick Cheney. In other words, if the polls were just a matter of honeymoon latitude, the Republicans would be faring a little better. But the polls are clear: people support the president's style and approach and disapprove of the Republican obstructionism.
Adding... Willie Geist was just standing in the "deep end" of the old White House indoor swimming pool originally installed by FDR in 1937. The pool -- tiles still intact -- is now an IT room of some sort, housing all of the servers and f/o cable for the press corp. My inner White House geek was just very jealous.