NEOAVATARA

Well, as August closes, Obama has to look back at this summer as a season wasted.

Barack Obama’s popularity is falling like a rock to earth.  In the latest Zogby poll, Obama now has an approval of only 42%.  That is historically terrible.  It would place him as the worst President at the same point in their presidency in the last half century.

Liberals largely have been ignoring the polls. They have said that the poll numbers have been slanted, and have especially criticized Rasmussen.  But Rasmussen appears to be a leading indicator…and currently has Obama at 45%.  That is four points higher than the admitted Democrat John Zogby.

Since last month, Obama is down 13 points among Democrats, nine points among liberals, and 18 points among voters 18 to 29.  So, the fall in Obama’s popularity is not among Republicans…it is from the left.

Now, this is a good news/bad news story.  With Obama losing independents and liberals, that makes it more likely, not less, that he will push the Public Option and reconciliation.  He cannot easily defy his liberal base.  Sure, it may be political suicide for Democrats to push the Public Option, but Obama may figure that is better than the alternative.

Clearly, the luster is gone.  Can Obama get back his mojo?  Right now, Obama is between a rock and a hard place.  Long term, moving to the political center would serve him better.  Moving to the left now would basically label him a left wing liberal for all time, which won’t play well in 2012.  Jettisoning the public option for a smaller, more restrained (dare I say, more conservative) bill would give him the chance to run as a centrist in 2012, but would likely damage his standing among the political left for a long time to come.  And both scenarios are unlikely to lead to anything but huge Republican victories during the midterm elections.