If you want a taste for how just difficult President Obama’s re-election efforts will be, watch this short exchange between CBS’s Bob Schieffer and Obama’s chief political strategist, David Axelrod. Schieffer played clips from an interview Obama did shortly after taking office, declaring that “We’re starting to make some progress. But there’s still gonna be some pain out there. If I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s gonna be a one-term proposition.” Then this dialogue took place:

SCHIEFFER: So there you are Mr. Axelrod. That was the president at the start [of his term]. We’re getting right up to that three year point. Is this going to be a one-term presidency?

AXELROD: I think the question is — what this election is … First of all, let’s certify that. We’re in a different place than where we were than the day he did that interview —

SCHIEFFER: Well, we are. Things are worse than they were.

The easiest job in America right now might be if you were a GOP ad man hired for the 2012 presidential campaign. Talk about an embarrassment of riches.