Signs of a failed presidency

...But here are three signs that he's over and out:

1. He's worried about his base. The left keeps saying, over and over, that the problem with Obama is that he's not....liberal enough. You've got to energize the base, says Joe Conason, and Salon. You've got to sound more left wing, says Bob Shrum. (Because that, presumably, is the heart of his problem with independents: he's not liberal enough.)

2. His toadies are desperate. E. J. Dionne spins hilarious wish-fulfillment fantasies about an Obama comeback. MSNBC tries to rally the troops. The LATimes and the Washington Post begin the painstaking work of cocooning themselves until Thanksgiving.

3. He's like a rat in a coffee can. He can't get any traction on anything -- not another stimulus package, not his targeted tax cuts, not his mess of a health care plan, not nothing. With no way out, he's flailing around for someone -- anyone -- on the other side to blame. Which is why suddenly John Boehner is suddenly a popular topic among the left. When a sitting president -- a guy who won with 53% of the vote! -- is so toothless and weak he has to run against the House Minority leader -- well, good Lord, how small can this president get?...