Is Obama really 'in the jaws of political death'?

President Obama "is being politically crushed in a vise," says Time's Mark Halperin. "From above, by elite opinion about his competence. From below, by mass anger and anxiety over unemployment." The emerging consensus among "most politically engaged elites," says Halperin, is that "the White House is in over its head, isolated, insular, arrogant, and clueless" about how to turn the economy around or persuade Congress and the public. And there's nothing Obama can do about it until January, after the midterms. Is Halperin's analysis on-target? (Watch a Fox Business discussion about Obama's falling popularity)

I told you so: "Gee, who could have guessed that Obama didn't have the skills or experience needed to handle the toughest executive position in the Free World?" says Ed Morrissey in Hot Air. "Oh, wait," me. When he was still a candidate. And now it appears that Obama isn't even good at his one real skill: Campaigning.

"Halperin: Consensus is Obama's in way over his head"

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Halperin is overthinking: For someone who "only writes about politics," Halperin is "stunningly" clueless about elections, says Jamelle Bouie in The American Prospect. Does Obama have "political woes"? Yes. Is it because of his personality, "arrogance," or "insularity"? Hardly. The president's party almost always gets smacked in midterms, especially when it holds large congressional majorities, and more so when the economy is doing poorly.

"Mark Halperin still doesn't know what he's talking about"

Clearly, the liberal media elite is turning on Obama too: Unlike The New York Times, which is still in denial "regarding the scale of the impending electoral disaster," says Nile Gardiner in The Telegraph, it's notable that Halperin at Time, "a publication at the very heart of the liberal media establishment," is "now questioning the Obama dream and where it's heading." As supporters abandon him, Obama seems "increasingly lonely and forlorn."

"The lonely president"

Obama's problem is Carteresque: Obama isn't as "politically challenged" as Jimmy Carter, and he is "far more likable," says Richard Cohen in The Washington Post. However, like Carter on energy, Obama "has done the right things" to improve health care, save our financial system, and avert a depression, despite GOP obstruction. But his "insistence on realism comes across as pessimism," and Americans don't like "sacrifice."

"Obama's Carter problem"