Barack Obama's poll numbers are sinking, at an accelerating rate. Unemployment is rising, both in numbers (near 3 million more unemployed on Obama's watch and 2/3 of that since the stimulus bill passed), and the unemployment percentage rate which is up from 7.1% to 9.6% since the Obama inauguration (this after Obama argued that the stimulus would keep unemployment below 8%, and create 4 million new jobs).

The deficit numbers are ballooning to near $2 trillion for fiscal 2009, and about $10 trillion more over the next ten years. As each month passes, fewer Americans blame the bad economy on George Bush and more consider this to be the Obama economy.

It is not hard to figure out why this is happening. Obama is on TV every day. He has made speeches all but 7 days since he was inaugurated. George Bush, like every President other than Jimmy Carter, has faded out of the picture, understanding that his time on the main stage has passed. Obama's dire warnings on the state of the economy back in January, and his confidence in the supposed cure all - the $787 billion stimulus bill - are now haunting the very slow or non-existent recovery.
 
With the falling poll numbers endangering Obama initiatives on cap trade and health care reform, the President needs to fall back on his hobby horse from the Presidential campaign -  big bad George Bush (and the need for "change"). This, I think, explains the New York Times story today on a secret intelligence program after 9/11 that was never divulged to Congress, the new charges by Nancy Pelosi that the CIA lied to Congress, and the threat of a new investigation by Attorney General Eric Holder into alleged acts of torture during the Bush years.

The Obama administration's loyal accomplices in the national media will be more than happy to focus on Bush and his "crimes". If Obama is lucky, maybe the people won't hear quite so much in the next few months about the economy, or at least until a turnaround occurs.