This week Democrats lost two significant special elections that were referendums on the president, with Democrats sustaining an eight-point loss in a district (NY-9) they had controlled since the Harding presidency and getting blown out by 22 points in a swing district (NV-2) of a battleground state. Perhaps more ominously for Democrats, the “Mediscare” tactics Democrats have used against Republicans for decades was completely ineffective.

Americans are increasingly gloomy about the future, with a gauge of expectations falling to the lowest level since 1980, according to a new survey. The Census Bureau informed us that the poverty rate in 2010 rose for the third consecutive year, with 46.2 million people in poverty in 2010, the largest number in the 52 years for which poverty estimates have been published. The report also indicated that median household income, adjusted for inflation, was lower last year than any year since in 1997.

In addition, according to Politico, “It’s open season on President Barack Obama — and that’s just from members of his own party.” Democrats are also turning on the president’s jobs bill. Mr. Obama’s Gallup approval rating has dropped into the 30s again. In Virginia, a state he carried in 2008, Mr. Obama’s approval-disapproval rating is 40 v. 54, with more than half saying he doesn’t deserve to be re-elected. His support in blue states generally is ebbing.

James Carville, who earlier wrote that it was time for the White House to “panic,” now says that President Obama is not going to win re-election based on the course he’s on. And William Galston, a top aide to President Clinton, told  USA Today, “I’ve now gotten old enough so every new movie strikes me as a sequel, and this is beginning to feel a little like 1979 and 1980 to me.” At that time, “the American people were coming to the conclusion that they would like to replace Jimmy Carter, if the Republicans presented a reasonable alternative to him, and then that was what the general election was about.” Of Obama, Galston says, “His presidency is in peril.”

If that’s not enough, the four-star Air Force general who oversees Air Force Space Command, General William Shelton, reportedly told Congress that the White House tried to pressure him to change his testimony to make it more favorable to a company tied to a large Democratic donor. And Jon Stewart is going after the Obama administration on the Solyndra scandal, which seems to be growing by the day.

Other than that, it was another fine week for the president.

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