President Obama vs. the marshmallows

It's nine months until Election Day, but President Obama is already bringing out the big guns - specifically, the Extreme Marshmallow Cannon.

Obama walked into the State Dining Room Tuesday and encountered 14-year-old Joey Hudy and the compressed-air cannon he invented to launch marshmallows as part of a science fair.

"The Secret Service is going to be mad at me about this," the president said, but he didn't care. He asked Hudy to hand over the gun and shot a confection across the room Thomas Jefferson used as his office.

Minutes later, the commander in chief told reporters that he "shot a marshmallow through an air gun, which was very exciting." It was so exciting that White House press secretary Jay Carney led off Tuesday afternoon's briefing with more talk of the Extreme Marshmallow Cannon, suggesting he would like to arm himself with one on the podium. He went on to discuss "another moment of the president's day that the president enjoyed" - chatting with the New York Giants' head coach.

Obama suddenly seems to be enjoying himself quite a bit, and no wonder: He might be the luckiest man alive.

At the last possible moment to save his reelection, the economy is beginning to hum. And Obama's Republican opponents are shaping up to be as formidable as, well, marshmallows. While Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum are making each other unelectable, the president is congratulating Super Bowl winners, playing with science projects, raising obscene amounts of campaign cash, and watching his poll numbers soar.

According to historical patterns, high unemployment and slow growth should doom Obama. But historical patterns do not take into account an opponent who says he enjoys firing people. This week's Washington Post-ABC News poll showed Obama with a nine-point lead over Romney. And political handicapper Charlie Cook noted a fundamental improvement in Obama's prospects.

In politics, it's better to be lucky than good, and Obama has come into an unexpectedly large quantity of luck. Five straight monthly drops in unemployment have boosted confidence and markets. And while Obama watches, his opponents are alienating the electorate. Conservative blogger Erick Erickson summed up the disenchantment when he said he would rather have the "sweet meteor of death than any of the candidates left in the race." Santorum's unexpected revival in Tuesday's primaries - essentially a protest vote - shows Erickson has plenty of company.

While Romney embraces birther billionaire Donald Trump, he has ceded the political center to Obama. The day after Romney indelicately announced that he was "not concerned about the very poor," Obama spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast about his affection for the Rev. Billy Graham and "the biblical call to care for the least of these."

The run of luck has left Obama in buoyant spirits, which were on display in the White House this week. Leaving aside the crisis in Syria and a dispute with the Catholic bishops, he lingered at the science fair to talk to the teen inventors and try their toys, including a robot made from a trash can and sugar packets with dissolving packaging ("Tell me when I can buy stock," Obama said). He turned to three girls from Texas who had built rockets and recounted his own experiment of dropping eggs with his daughter Sasha from the Truman Balcony, before agreeing to the girls' request for a group hug.

For a man who had been focused on his own survival, it was a newfound luxury to spend quality time with robots and marshmallows. "I've got to say," a grinning Obama said, "this is fun."