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Unbelievable – I mean really.

At a town hall meeting on his campaign-style tour of the Midwest, President Obama claimed that his economic program “reversed the recession” until recovery was frustrated by events overseas.  And then, Obama said, with the economy in an increasingly precarious position, the recovery suffered another blow when Republicans pressed the White House for federal spending cuts in exchange for an increase in the national debt limit, resulting in a deal Obama called a “debacle.”

“We had reversed the recession, avoided a depression, gotten the economy moving again,” Obama told a crowd in Decorah, Iowa.  “But over the last six months we’ve had a run of bad luck.”  Obama listed three events overseas — the Arab Spring uprisings, the tsunami in Japan, and the European debt crises — which set the economy back.

“All those things have been headwinds for our economy,” Obama said.  “Now, those are things that we can’t completely control.  The question is, how do we manage these challenging times and do the right things when it comes to those things that we can control?”

Isn’t Obama really saying: Vote for me because things were out of my hands and without me the economy could be a lot worse?

This pig is NOT going to fly, Mr. President.

According to the latest Gallup Poll.

President Obama’s job approval rating dropped to 40% during the week spanning Aug. 8-14, the lowest weekly average of his administration. During this period, Obama’s three-day rolling average also hit a new low of 39% for Aug. 11-13, the first such average below 40% since he took office, though it recovered to 41% for Aug. 12-14.

Obama’s weekly average was 42% for the two weeks prior to last week, which at that time also marked new lows for his administration. His lowest three-day average prior to Aug. 11-13 had been 40%.

Why?

Probably widespread disapproval of the way the President handled the debt-limit crisis and a drop in confidence regarding Obama’s handling of the economy.

Also, the Republican Presidential field is being solidified and have been attacking Obama directly.

But, the implications are very clear.

Although the new lows in Obama’s job approval rating represent only a slight drop from his previous low readings, they symbolically underscore the weaker position the president is in as he begins a “listening tour” of the Midwest this week.

Ten incumbent presidents have sought re-election since World War II, and none has won a second term with final pre-election job approval ratings below 48%. The last two presidents who lost their re-election bids — George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter — had job approval ratings in the 30% range in the fall of the election year. Thus, Obama’s challenge is not only to move his rating back above 40%, but also to push it close to or above 50%.

The new Congressional and California Legislative Districts have been approved by the California Citizen’s Redistricting Commission this morning.

A citizens panel gave final approval Monday to new boundaries for California’s state and congressional legislative districts, setting the stage for possible challenges to the plan in the courtroom and on the ballot.

The maps adopted Monday by the Citizens Redistricting Commission will be used during the next decade in elections for 120 seats in the state Legislature, 53 congressional seats and four seats on the state Board of Equalization.

“Given the conflicting requirements, I think we did a very good job,” said Commission Chairman Vincent Barabba, a Republican businessman from Santa Cruz County who is a former director of the U.S. Census Bureau.

The 14-person panel was created after voters approved Proposition 11 in November 2008 to take the job of redistricting away from legislators, who drew the boundaries in a way that helped make sure incumbents were reelected.

Some Republican members of Congress have complained about how the districts were drawn and hinted that the new districts could be subject to a court challenge.

California Republican Party spokesman Mark Standriff said it is “less likely” the state party will go to court, and a decision on whether to put a referendum on the ballot to challenge the plan will probably be made this week.

By and large, the Citizen’s Commission followed the law and their plan is probably about as fair as one can expect in politics. Sure, some POLS will be upset, but having been exposed to the last decade of blatant gerrymandering, this is a vast improvement.

But, stay tuned, since there is liable to be some challenges either by referendum or by lawsuit.

You can view your new California Congressional and Legislative districts here with an interactive map.