NUMBERS TROUBLE - AT 9:25 A.M. ET:  Two new polls spell trouble for President Obama.  Although he remains personally popular, support for the president's policies is increasingly anemic.  From The New York Times:

A substantial majority of Americans say President Obama has not developed a strategy to deal with the budget deficit, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, which also found that support for his plans to overhaul health care, rescue the auto industry and close the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, falls well below his job approval ratings.

And...

A distinct gulf exists between Mr. Obama’s overall standing and how some of his key initiatives are viewed, with fewer than half of Americans saying they approve of how he has handled health care and the effort to save General Motors and Chrysler. A majority of people said his policies have had either no effect yet on improving the economy or had made it worse, underscoring how his political strength still rests on faith in his leadership rather than concrete results.

Meanwhile, a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll produced similar results:

WASHINGTON -- After a fairly smooth opening, President Barack Obama faces new concerns among the American public about the budget deficit and government intervention in the economy as he works to enact ambitious health and energy legislation, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds.

These rising doubts threaten to overshadow the president's personal popularity and his agenda, in what may be a new phase of the Obama presidency.

COMMENT:  Significantly, the president was also down in foreign policy, at a time when his relatively soft stand on Iran is getting decidedly mixed ratings. 

The honeymoon, if not over, is in its final stretch.  How the president rates this fall will be politically critical, as the nation starts the long march toward the 2010 midterm elections.

June 18, 2009