Has Obama Lost His Economic Trump Card?

It may be a fair assessment. DB Advisor's Feinman said he thinks the developed world has used all of its "levers." Many economists and investment analysts believe the Federal Reserve and other central banks have done all they can, and that now it's time for the politicians to ramp up fiscal action.

President Obama faces a Republican Congress that appears unwilling to compromise ahead of the November elections to solve the so-called fiscal cliff. Critics of the GOP argue the party is playing politics in order to pin economic woes on the White House.

The general feeling is that any agreement by Congress on expiring Bush tax cuts, the payroll tax, pending spending cuts, pending expiring programs (extended unemployment insurance and cuts in Medicare pay to doctors) and other potential U.S. fiscal drags would only help business and investor confidence.

But July won't necessarily determine who wins in November as voters are likely to look at overall economic trends in the three quarters leading up to Election Day, according to Yale University economist Ray Fair.

If conditions improve, it could bode well for Obama, but it's unwise to assume that the average voter will keep a pulse on the overwhelming number of economic indicators due out before the election.

"The problem that Obama faces with voters is they don't have confidence in his economic plan, or his background, so they're rooting for him to succeed, but they don't know that he's got the goods to do it," said Glenn Bolger, a Republican pollster at Public Opinion Strategies.

One of the Obama campaign's favorite talking points has been the strength of the manufacturing sector, which represents the blue-collar, middle-class bastion of American employees that could swing the president a second term.

Polls already suggest that 2012 will be a tight race, and dwindling U.S. factory growth through the summer would eliminate one of the Obama campaign's few successful economic campaign messages.

"I'm not sure voters felt in 1980 or 1992 that [Ronald] Reagan and [Bill] Clinton were better options, but they were at a point where they said, 'You know, we've given this guy four years, and things aren't getting better ... so it's time for a change,'" said Bolger.

The Obama campaign did not respond to repeated requests for comment. -- Written by Joe Deaux in New York.

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