"The biggest culprit in our current predicament," as Jacob Weisberg sees it in Slate, is "the childishness, ignorance and growing incoherence of the public at large."

In other words, the same voting public that fell for "hope and change" and put Barack Obama in office a year ago suddenly is too stupid to notice the genius at work in the White House.

With Obama not inclined to do what presidents are supposed to do, namely keep the country solvent and secure, lots of people are wondering what gives. Talk about dumb.

Some on the extremes, as Obama himself noted, believe his health care reform program is part of a "Bolshevik plot" to wreck the nation's economy. Others, not smart enough to think in those terms, are just afraid of losing their jobs, homes and life savings.

Obama learned his politics in Chicago, where complainers are ignored. But in Washington, Democratic Party officials are concerned his "transformative" presidency may be transforming millions of former supporters into an angry mob.

The latest polls shows the party has something to worry about. Obama's job approval numbers are in free-fall, from over 62 percent early last year to 47 percent last week. On top of that, surveys of voter sentiment suggest the 2010 congressional elections will see GOP gains. Scott Brown's win last month in Massachusetts took away the Democrats' 60-vote majority in the Senate, forcing the administration to work with Republicans, something it was planning to avoid.

Obama ran for the presidency promising to be the exact opposite of what he's turned out to be: a Chicago political operator too slick for his own good. Which isn't that surprising, because the Chicago way of doing things is what he's brought to the White House.

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