It certainly must suck to be President Obama these days, what with his popularity dropping, lack of support from the independents, certain factions (read: the Blue Dogs and others) within the Democratic Party and a rock-solid opponent in the Republican Party. The president, for all intents and purposes finds himself pinned against the wall because of one issue: his healthcare bill.

And I suspect that Obama will try to revive interest on his bill with using something that early in his presidency served him well: a sense of crisis. Remember Obama using the “worst economy since the Great Depression” statement? This will probably be no different, although I sense some tweaking in his message as he talks to labor leaders on Monday and addresses Congress on Wednesday.

Crisis enabler Rahm Emanuel, for reasons only known to him, has made the claim that the Obama administration has made “unprecedented” health care progress within the last eight months. Really? If so, then explain why the American people have turned out in droves to tea parties and town hall meetings. Except for the paid, union-supplied plants within the audiences, I am pretty certain that the populace aren’t attending the meetings to give praise to Obama and Congress in reference to current health care policy.

Emanuel, in his attempt to put lipstick on a pig (old and outdated, yet very true in this instance), said in an interview yesterday:

“We gave Congress a charge, we gave them broad outlines, which is the reason we are farther along than any of the five presidents that have tried. We’re not there yet, and this speech is intended to finish the job.”

Part of the problem in regards to this “health care crisis” is that if you set aside the actual number of people without insurance (young workers by and large and illegals), there isn’t really a true health care crisis. So you can assume that the message you hear should you opt to tune into to Obama yakking to Congress Wednesday will be one of more of the same and at the same time try to build a consensus.

One thing is for certain: expect Bush’s name to pop up at least omce during the address to Congress. Actually two things are for certain – the second being that this is Obama’s health care issue, right along with the economy. The finger-pointing is so January 2009.

To use a pro football euphemism, Obama is on offense with two minutes to go in the game and it is 4th down and long; you can assume safely that the Republicans, independents and certain Democrats are in “prevent defense” mode. This address, unlike ones in the past, will bear watching because of the potantial ramifications.