Because Obama is a Democrat,

and we can debate how much of a Democrat he really is, he is getting the identical treatment Bill Clinton (or for that matter, Jimmy Carter) got. It is no surprise at all. The Republicans are worried that because Obama got huge chunks of red state votes and even carried red states like Indiana, Virginia, and North Carolina, the party will be marginalized for years to come.

When backed into a corner, the Republicans do what they do best, and that's smear, smear, smear until something sticks. Apparently it is working to some extent according to recent opinion polls.

Lyons:

But unease runs deeper. In my hometown paper today, there's word of a factory manufacturing stainless-steel sinks shutting down, a sawmill cutting production to one day a week and Eli Lilly & Co. announcing the elimination of 5,500 jobs.

Meanwhile, Obama's on Wall Street, talking about financial reforms, which mainly reminds people that these jokers damn near gambled the economy away, took billions in taxpayer bailouts, then kept awarding each other obscene bonuses as if nothing had happened. Fear and anger won't diminish until sawmills and factories start hiring again.

Alas, it appears to be considered bad form in the Obama White House to keep reminding voters that it was President George W. Bush's economic and tax policies -- the very miracle cures now championed by Fox News celebrities, politicians like Rep. Joe Wilson and "Teabaggers" alike -- that caused this economic Katrina to happen.

It's the economy, stupid.

Obama needs to focus on the economy, not wasting his time so much on the health care reform sideshow or especially giving handouts to the crooks who created this disaster.