The new Washington Post/ABC News poll joins that happy genre of voters-sick-of-everyone surveys. Obama at 43 percent approval; Obama losing by five points to Generic Republican*; Obama tied, basically, with Mitt Romney and Rick Perry. And look at the syncronicity! The right track/wrong track number the week before Obama was inaugurated: right track 18, wrong track 79. Now: Right track 19, wrong track 78. There was a surge of optimism after Obama's inauguration, which faded through 2010. This was followed by a micro-surge when Republicans took Congress, now faded.

Surely the GOP's going to be blamed for this, too, right? Well, maybe. The beauty of congressional obstruction is that you can pin all of the blame on the president when things go pear-shaped, and take some of the credit when things go right. Look at the trend here. First number is current. Second number is February 2011. Third number is from the summer of 2009.

Do you think Obama's economic program is making the economy (better), making it (worse) or having no real effect?

Better - 17 (27) (43)
Worse - 34 (28) (23)

Confidence has collapsed as Washington has gone into the austerity mode that Republicans demanded. The result: Voters think Obama's screwing up.

*Insert your own Tim Pawlenty joke!