As President Obama today fends off blistering attacks by former political allies that he caved to Republicans and sold-out his principles in order to reach a tax deal -- a petition calling for progressive senators "to stand up and use the filibuster to block this awful deal," for example -- comes word that corporate CEOs are absolutely giddy with the changed Washington landscape since last month's mid-term elections.

Chief Executive magazine reports that its “CEO Confidence Index” increased 14.7 percent in November to 102.1 due to the election results.

The "Current Confidence" part of the Index, which had the lowest rating of the five components, soared 20.4 percent to 70.6 following the Republican shellacking of the Democrats and the soon-to-be ouster of lefty Nancy Pelosi with business-friendly John Boehner as Speaker of the House.

The Index’s other lagging component, "Employment Confidence," rose 16.1 percent to 88.3. CEOs expecting job creation over the next quarter rose from 19.9 percent in October to 26.8 percent in November. An unnamed CEO predicted that if Obama “extends the Bush tax cuts across the board, this action alone will create jobs and stimulate the economy.” He or she received an early Christmas present.

Another CEO wants the President to step up his PR, believing current business conditions are better than what statistics indicate. The recommendation is that “Washington should ‘talk up’ the economy rather than all the doom and gloom.” Obama is doing that today, joining his new-found Republican “friends” in singing the praises of tax cuts that were opposed by a majority of Americans.

Here are two predictions:

1) Republicans will once-again jilt the President when it comes time to consider the nuke treaty with Russia, “don’t ask, don’t tell “and the Dream Act (immigration reform)

2) Pinata Obama will become as popular as Joe Lieberman in Democratic circles (Joe and Barry, perfect together).

If Obama survives a Democratic challenge for the presidential nomination in 2012, he better hope Sarah Palin is his Republican opponent and Mike Bloomberg decides to forgo a third party challenge.