In January, after taking what looked like a right-turn, Barack Obama climbed back to 50% approval ratings.

Rasmussen notes in a recent poll that he's slid back down to 44% with a massive 41% 'strongly disapprove' rating.

Overall, 44% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's performance. Fifty-five percent (55%) disapprove.

In Wisconsin, scene of the taxpayer-funded protest of taxpayer interests, polls show Walker getting 48% support while the unions get 38%. This is Wisconsin folks, traditionally one of the Democrat bastions of the country, home state of Sen. Russ Feingold where Barack Obama won its 10 electoral votes with 56% of the popular vote, versus 42% for the lamentable John McCain.

The debt crisis is so obvious, and the current economic situation so precarious, that the traditional arguments for preserving government spending simply find no traction. Planned Parenthood was defunded. Planned Parenthood! Yet, scarcely a whimper from the media. Can NPR be far behind?

Democrats, who built the party on redistributing your wealth to those they deemed more deserving, are finding themselves in a perfect storm. Not only do they portend to lose a herd of sacred cows in deficit-reduction legislation, but the cash cows are under threat as well. Traditional union membership has cratered over the past few years, mostly because traditionally unionized industries are falling by the wayside to more robust (and non-union) competitors. The one bright spot has been public service unions, with their stranglehold on governments who simply could not, as public sector companies do, 'lock-out' employees as a counter to the more egregious union demands.

Making the unions collect their own dues and renewing their certification every year brings balance back to the Force, but also puts a serious crimp in the finances of the Democrat party, which depends heavily on union political spending.

Consider two blog posts. One which details a clear and itemized strategy for recalling one of the Wisconsin Senate Democrats and adding a Republican vote to break the impasse, and other (TPM Cafe) which alleges some nebulous possibility of turning a 'moderate' Republican to their views. Which side do you think is winning?

Any Democrat elected official has to be asking him or herself what their voting record should look like in advance of the 2012 election. Obama preserves the Bush tax regime, his polls rise. Obama presents a risible budget and throws his weight behind the public service unions in Wisconsin; his polls decline. This could quickly become a bi-partisan effort and make it extraordinarily difficult for the President to veto, say, a repeal of Obamacare (also incidentally supported by a plurality of voters...).

The next couple of years are going to very, very interesting; if we can survive them.