Some pundits who sit both right and left of America’s political center are already pointing toward a re-election win for President Obama. Bloomberg Businessweek questions that prognostication, offering some comforting words to presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney:

Ordinarily, such fatalism is the province of Democrats, not Republicans. What’s really odd is that it’s unwarranted. While it’s true that most head-to-head polls show Romney trailing President Obama, these are snapshots that capture Romney at a particularly inopportune moment. His strength is almost certain to increase, and Obama’s could well decrease, before November.

For starters, Romney’s apparent weakness within his own party is largely a reflection of the internal divisions that open up whenever there’s a contested primary. Right now, Democrats are more enthusiastic about Obama than Republicans are about Romney because a lot of Republicans would prefer someone else. Santorum’s exit will force most of them to reconcile themselves to the victor, just as Hillary Clinton’s supporters did, some grudgingly, after the 2008 Democratic primary. …

… Another source of Republican gloom is that Obama’s political fortunes have been improving along with the economy. Six months of solid jobs gains and falling unemployment pushed his Gallup approval rating above the magical 50 percent threshold for a few days in early April, up from a low of 41 percent last fall. But on the same day he reached that benchmark—April 6—the government reported the disappointing news that only 120,000 jobs were created in March, a reminder of just how fragile the economy remains.

That’s true of Obama’s political standing as well. The strength he’s drawing from the recovery is more limited than pundits suggest and prone to exaggeration. Even six months of steady good news has failed to persuade most voters of the benefits of his stewardship.