Last summer, I had some sort of political epiphany as candidate Barack Obama near-nonchalantly shot/tossed a basketball in front of a crowd of US troops in Afghanistan — Too cool for school.
One can watch the event here.

From a Washington Post/ABC News poll released yesterday:

Among all Americans, 49 percent now express confidence that Obama will make the right decisions for the country, down from 60 percent at the 100-day mark in his presidency.
Forty-nine percent now say they think he will be able to spearhead significant improvements in the system, down nearly 20 percentage points from before he took office.
As challenges to Obama’s initiatives have mounted over the summer, pessimism in the nation’s direction has risen: Fifty-five percent see things as pretty seriously on the wrong track, up from 48 percent in April.
…
Before Obama’s inauguration, 61 percent of independents expressed confidence in his ability to make the right decisions for the country. That number fell to 52 percent about 100 days into his presidency and now sits at 41 percent. Confidence in his judgment has also slipped substantially among seniors.

And the problems seem to run in deep, deep water:

WaPo polling analyst (Jennifer) Agiesta cautioned that independents were likely a greater factor, but she said Obama’s problems among Dems and liberals were clearly playing a key role:
“This is the first sign that something is going wrong with his base.”

No wonder — the Mid East wars are turning shitty.
And along that baseline is a scream to bring the troops home: A poll of 1001 U.S. adults published in the Washington Post on Thursday found that 51 percent said the Afghan war was “not worth fighting,” compared to 47 percent who said it was. Among Democrats, it was 70 percent to 27 percent against the war.

And like some bad-plotted story, Obama might encounter a real hurricane this weekend as he trips up to Martha’s Vineyard for a holiday — As the world goes to shit in a wire basket.