A new CNN/ORC poll finds President Obama comes out of what was arguably the worst week of his presidency with his approval rating holding steady at 53% to 45%.

Said pollster Keating Holland: “An approval rating that has not dropped and remains over 50% will probably be taken as good news by Democrats after the events of the last week.”

The latest Gallup poll finds Obama’s approval at 51% to 42%.

Washington Post: “President Obama’s professed ignorance of the targeting of conservatives by one government agency and his support of tracking journalists’ sources by another highlight one of the great paradoxes of his presidency: Sometimes he uses his office as aggressively as anyone who’s held it; other times he seems unacquainted with the work of his own administration.”

“The president’s inconsistency is so befuddling that not even his critics can get it straight. They simultaneously charge that he is ‘leading from behind’ and that he is displaying, in the words of House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-OH), ‘the arrogance of power.'”

“House Democrats left Washington on Friday insisting they’re not worried about political fallout after one of the most difficult weeks the Obama administration has endured,” The Hill reports.

“Democrats know their fate in the 2014 elections hinges to a large degree on Obama’s popularity, and they say the president has responded appropriately to a trio of controversies involving the IRS, the Justice Department and the terrorist attack last year in Benghazi, Libya.”

“The Democrats are also cheering the aggressive approach Obama used in the latter half of the week, saying the feistiness has quelled criticisms that the president is steering from the back seat of his own administration.”

“You cannot take the freedom of law-abiding Americans, whether you disagree with them or not, and keep your own freedom. When you do that, you go to jail.”

— Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), quoted by Politico, on the IRS officials who targeted conservative groups.

President Obama, “struggling to find his footing after one of his most turbulent weeks in office, will try to push past the moment’s political furor with a focus on the few pieces of legislation he believes have a chance in Congress and on executive actions that do not require Republican approval,” the New York Times reports.

“The president’s aides, wary of what they say are Republican attempts to seize on woes as a way of thwarting Mr. Obama’s agenda, have ordered the White House staff not to be distracted by approaching hearings on Capitol Hill. Denis R. McDonough, the White House chief of staff, has told those in the West Wing that he expects them to spend no more than 10 percent of their time on the controversies.”

“For me personally, it has been a good week.”

— White House press secretary Jay Carney, quoted by the New York Times, on being in the hot seat over the controversies swirling around the administration.