"It's the economy, stupid!"

On the most important issue facing ordinary Americans — the economy — President Obama is becoming a massive disappointment. As next month's mid-term elections approach, there is panic among Democrats at the administration's failure to solve the country's economic problems. Joblessness is high and the "recovery" looks like a mirage. In other words, President Obama's economic policies have failed, or at least that is what much of the US public thinks. Collectively, Americans seem to have lost their famous sense of optimism in the era of hope and change.

Barack Obama promised a new beginning when he became president. After the trauma of the Bush years, voters were prepared to believe him. But disillusionment has come quickly. Paradoxically, however, the president has been astonishingly successful. From healthcare reform to financial services, he's equal to Lyndon B. Johnson and Franklin D. Roosevelt . And, of course, he delivered his campaign guarantee to end the war in Iraq. But, as Bill Clinton said during his winning 1992 presidential campaign against George H. W. Bush ,"It's the economy, stupid!"