Last November, fresh off the election, I made a number of predictions about the Obama administration. I was right about some of them, and feel comfortable standing by others that haven't been decided yet. However, I was wrong about two things.

First, I predicted that the economy was poised to strengthen at the beginning of the year and that a moderate recovery would be underway by now. Interest rates were low, oil prices were low, the inventory of unsold houses was declining, and the worst of the credit crunch seemed to be over. Instead of a recovery, we've had severe job losses and the unemployment rate has reached about 10%. There might be some glimmers of improvement, but it's dicey.

A significant factor in the lingering recession, I believe, the Obama Admininstration's "stimulus" and its other massive spending plans. The American people have been shaken by the arrogance and wrong-headedness of the administration's efforts to spend far, far beyond its means while citizens have been cutting back and getting their financial houses in order. I believe the irresponsible and ineffective spending has hurt consumer and, perhaps more importantly, business confidence. I talk to business people from various sectors frequently, and they are all nervous about the future. There is a sense of deep foreboding that we are heading down a dark road from which there is no return. Business men and women are apprehensive, and it is affecting the recovery. While leads me to my second erroneous prediction.

I thought Obama's honeymoon period would last a good year. The press is so deeply in love with and committed to His Holiness that I figured they'd cover for his misteps and the sheer volume of positive press coverage he would receive would keep the average, working, not-much-interested-in-politics American from realizing how far to the left President Obama actually is.

Thankfully, and my eyes are practically getting misty as I write this, I was wrong. The honeymoon is over (via Rasmussen Reports):

Obama's overall approval rating has slipped below 50%, and there is majority opposition to some of his signature items: government-run healthcare, cap and trade, and tax increases. Just when I start to lose hope in America (see the last election), the citizenry always comes through and bucks me up.

If Obama were smart, he'd stop pushing 1,000-page massive government bills. He'd scale back, let the economy recover, take (undeserved) credit for it, and watch his poll numbers increase. It's really pretty simple: the citizens want prosperity, security, and minimal conflict. The prosperity will come, if The One would just get out of the way. We have security, thanks to the Bush Administration, and the conflict in Afghanistan seems far more remote and abstract than the Iraq liberation did (what exactly is the end-game in Afghanistan anyway? Can anybody be bothered to ask? Where are all the war protesters now?).

If Obama isn't smart enough to scale back his far-left agenda, hopefully his sinking approval ratings will prevent him from enacting it.