You're Out Of Your Element, Barry

Obama is back on the campaign trail trying to get his numbers back up.

President Barack Obama, facing considerable resistance in Washington to his budget and stimulus plans, is shifting into full-blown campaign mode, using new and old presidential tools to rally Americans to his side.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Obama held two town hall meetings in California before adoring crowds that waited hours to see him. He scheduled a White House press conference for Tuesday, enlisted the grass-roots aid of his formidable online network of supporters, and planned an appearance on Jay Leno's late-night talk show, by some accounts the first time an incumbent president has gone on such a program.

The strategy underscores his faith in his campaign skills, and the high stakes of his ambitious budget and stimulus agenda, whose failure would deliver a severe blow to his young administration.

Ahh but alas, never fear. There remains, fierce and strong O'Worshippers camping out overnight on the sidewalks of SoCal praying to catch a glimpse of The One. Perhaps even touching his suit. Empty or otherwise.

The crowd roared its approval in a setting that had all the trappings of a fall campaign event, right down to someone shouting, "I love you, Obama!" and the president replying, "I love you back."

Such valentines, however, won't necessarily smooth Obama's path when he returns to Washington. Congressional Republicans feel the administration blundered badly by allowing executives of the mostly nationalized AIG insurance firm to receive big bonuses, and it has emboldened their opposition to his budget and stimulus plans.

Lest we forget. President Barack Obama will appear on Jay Leno's Tonight Show. The very first sitting president to attend these late night entertainment shows, by the way. This should be exciting.

He talks to ESPN about this n' that and his picks for the NCAA men's basketball Final Four, yadda,yadda. Instead of being back at his desk in Washington, attempting to fix this hole We The People have been thrown into? Like losing our jobs. Or losing our homes.

"Somebody said that we're not in President Obama's Final Four, and as much as I respect what he's doing, really, the economy is something that he should focus on, probably more than the brackets," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said from the Blue Devils' first-round site in Greensboro, N.C.

When the going gets tough...Go on The Tonight Show