Now these are some lousy numbers for President Obama from Marist:

Fewer registered voters nationwide — 44 percent — currently approve of President Barack Obama’s job performance than disapprove — 47 percent. When Marist last asked about the president’s approval rating in December, 46 percent thought well of Obama’s job performance while 44 percent gave him low marks . . . For the first time since taking office, a majority of Independents — 57 percent — disapproves of how he is doing in the role. 29 percent approve, and 14 percent are unsure.

This number jumped out at me: “In fact, [among independents] a majority — 52 percent — have an unfavorable view of Mr. Obama compared with 43 percent two months ago.” Keep in mind, this isn’t job approval, i.e., how do you think Obama is performing his duties. This is essentially, “Do you approve of him as a person?” Obama usually garners significantly higher numbers in this category.

In other words, independents aren’t just disappointed with how Obama is as president; they’re starting to not like him.

Clearly, this calls for a long, heavily hyped, nationally televised speech.