WHERE OBAMA STANDS – AT 8:14 A.M. ET:  The political season unofficially starts today, and the president of the United States is, frankly, in poor political shape.  From the Washington Post:

Public pessimism about the direction of the country has jumped to its highest level in nearly three years, erasing the sense of hope that followed President Obama’s inauguration and pushing his approval ratings to a record low, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

More than 60 percent of those surveyed say they disapprove of the way the president is handling the economy and, what has become issue No. 1, the stagnant jobs situation. Just 43 percent now approve of the job he is doing overall, a new career low; 53 percent disapprove, a new high.

As part of a reinvigorated effort to regain momentum as he heads toward the 2012 election year, Obama traveled to Detroit on Monday for a Labor Day appearance that served as a prelude to his speech Thursday to a joint session of Congress in which he will unveil new proposals to create jobs.

The urgency for Obama to act is driven not just by the most recent unemployment report, which on Friday showed no job growth in August and the unemployment rate stuck at 9.1 percent, but also by the depth of the political hole in which the president finds himself. Even more than two-thirds of those who voted for Obama say things are badly off course.

I wonder what the other third are thinking.  Are we on course?

By this time in their presidencies, approval ratings for both Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton — who also suffered serious midterm setbacks during their first term — had settled safely above the 50 percent mark. Both then stayed in positive territory throughout their reelection campaigns.

However, there is no room for relaxation on our side:

Obama does, however, rate better than do congressional Republicans, his adversaries in recent, fierce confrontations on federal spending. Just 28 percent approve of the way Republicans in Congress are doing their job, and 68 percent disapprove, the worst spread for the GOP since summer 2008.

COMMENT:  This is more or less consistent with other polls we've seen. Indeed, Gallup has had approval of the president as low as 38%. 

However, most polls also show Mr. Obama either tied with or defeating potential Republican rivals.   Public discontent with a president doesn't always lead to his defeat...if the public thinks the other side is worse.  The Republican Party remains unpopular, and its candidate for president must rise above that.  An NBC/Wall /Street Journal poll out today reports:

...in a hypothetical general election contest, Obama leads Texas Gov. Rick Perry by five points, 47 percent to 42 percent. And he leads former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney by one, 46 percent to 45 percent, though that margin is down five points since June.

But for the first time in the poll, more say they'd probably vote for a generic Republican candidate (44 percent) than say they'd probably vote for Obama (40 percent).

The headache is that this generic guy, whom everyone writes about, doesn't exist.  If he does exist, I wish he'd get his campaign together.

September 6, 2011