President Barack Obama woke up Thursday to find two new polls — the NBC News/Wall Street Journal and CBS News/New York Times — showing growing public concerns over the high rate of government spending and ballooning federal deficits.

Meanwhile, his big-ticket initiative to revamp the U.S. healthcare system hit a road bump in Congress, where a key Senate committee slowed its schedule for consideration of the measure in order to find a bipartisan approach to rein in its huge projected costs — more than $1 trillion and counting.

For Obama, the news was a sign, perhaps, that the public is beginning to hold him accountable for the many thorny issues he inherited from former President George W. Bush and becoming concerned about the mounting price tag — the Congressional Budget Office estimates the federal deficit could top $1.8 trillion this fiscal year.

Obama, who had a full day of meetings at the White House and no public events until an evening fundraiser, remains personally popular but has seen his approval rating slip slightly to 56 percent, down from 61 percent in April, according to the NBC poll. Among independents it fell even more sharply, from nearly 2-to-1 to closely divided. He stayed steady at 63 percent approval in the CBS poll.

But Republican criticism might be gaining at least a toehold, with nearly 70 percent of respondents in the NBC poll saying they were worried about federal intervention in the economy, including the government’s ownership stake in General Motors and potential government involvement in healthcare.

Only 37 percent say he is taking on too many issues, with 60 percent saying he was forced to confront a big agenda because the country has so many problems.

Obama said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal he was not surprised the drumbeat of Republican attacks was having some success.

“If you want to attack a Democratic president, how are you going to attack him?” Obama said. “Well, you’re going to talk about how he wants more government and he wants to socialize medicine and he’s going to be oppressive toward business. I mean, that’s pretty standard fare.”

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque  (Obama arrives for financial regulation announcement)

There is a new crisis on the agenda for President Barack Obama.

While trying to revitalize a nosediving economy, rebuild the collapsing auto industry, rein in North Korea’s unpredictable Kim Jong-il and overhaul the costly healthcare system, Obama now can ponder his response to an Iran reeling from a disputed election and the biggest street protests since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Several leading Republicans have hammered Obama for what they say is a too cautious approach to the disputed vote that gave hardliner President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a big win over former Prime Minister Mirhossein Mousavi. Obama said on Monday he was “deeply troubled” by the post-election violence but it was up to the Iranians to work out who their leaders will be.

Republicans say that is not good enough.

“He should speak out that this is a corrupt, fraud, sham of an election.  The Iranian people have been deprived of their rights,” Senator John McCain said on NBC’s “Today” show on Tuesday.

While Obama considers his next move on Iran, however, he will also grapple with North Korea during a White House meeting on Tuesday with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. The South Korean leader has taken a tough line on North Korea even before Pyongyong ratched up tension in recent weeks by test-firing missiles, restarting a plant to produce weapons-grade plutonium and holding a May 25 nuclear test.

It’s healthcare week at the White House — the first of what promises to be many.

With debate on a healthcare reform package beginning to take shape, President Barack Obama heads to Chicago this morning to make his case for it to the American Medical Association, an audience of skeptics who will be on the frontline of the battle to overhaul the sprawling U.S. healthcare system.

The AMA, which represents 250,000 doctors, said in a statement last week it would oppose a public government insurance plan that Obama says will drive down costs by creating competition with private insurers. Critics say it would limit choice and amount to a government takeover.

Obama’s speech will be the first of several pieces of the healthcare puzzle this week, with the Senate Finance Committee slated to unveil its version of the bill and the debate sharpening over how to pay for the plan and whether to include the public insurance program.

Obama wants to sign a healthcare reform bill this year, and congressional leaders have promised to get the initial version to the floor and passed in each chamber by the August recess — setting up a fall of debate and compromise as the two chambers hammer out a final version of the plan.

REUTERS/Frank Polich   (Statue of President Barack Obama in Chicago)

No major events are on the calendar today in the Federal City, but on the other side of the Potomac River there’s plenty to chew over.

Virginia Democrats on Tuesday night picked State Sen. Creigh Deeds, an unpolished moderate from the rural Shenandoah Valley, over better-funded rivals in the state’s gubernatorial primary.

This normally wouldn’t be big news, but the Virginia governor’s race is sure to get lots of national scrutiny as one of only two major electoral contests this year (along with the New Jersey governor’s race).

Virginia, long a bastion of conservative politics, has turned blue this decade. The state has elected two Democratic governors in a row, backed Obama in last year’s presidential race, and is now represented by two Democrats in the Senate.

Much of this shift has been driven by rapid population growth in the affluent Washington suburbs, where voters have more in common with liberal New Yorkers than conservative Southerners. Thus it’s interesting to note that Deeds, who hails from a sparsely populated, conservative area, defeated two better-funded, more liberal candidates who call Northern Virginia home — former Democratic party (and Clinton ally) Terry McAuliffe and state Delegate Brian Moran.

Deeds will face Republican Robert McDonnell in the November election. The two have faced off before: McDonnell beat Deeds by a mere 323 votes in the attorney general’s race four years ago.

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REUTERS/Chris Wattie      Terry McAuliffe waves at 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver

Though North Korea and the the looming bankruptcy of General Motors are at the top of many minds in Washington, today President Barack Obama turns his public focus to cybersecurity and hurricane preparedness.

At 11 a.m. Obama speaks at an event at the White House about the country’s cyber infrastructure. He may give some explanation of how powerful his new “cyberczar” may be - a question that has concerned the tech industry, which wants to top cybersecurity person to be based in the White House to assure access to the president.

The cybersecurity program is aimed at organizing federal agencies to better share information and ensure better security of government computers and networks. Holes in U.S. cybersecurity defenses have allowed major incidents of identity and intellectual property theft. Sensitive military information has also reportedly been stolen by cyber-spies.

From cyberspace Obama will move back to earth and review preparations for this year’s hurricane season, which is just getting underway.

He will go to FEMA headquarters for a hurricane preparedness meeting and will make a few comments to reporters. Obama is likely mindful that in his first hurricane season as president he needs to avoid a repeat of the mistakes the Bush administration made responding to the deadly Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

And for those watching for news of Susan Boyle on “Britain’s Got Talent” — the final is on Saturday.

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Photo credits:REUTERS/Richard Carson (Houses damaged by Hurrican Katrina in New Orleans in 2005); REUTERS/David Moir (Boyle gestures to onlookers in West Lothian, Scotland last month)

Republican Party chairman Michael Steele yesterday urged his fellow GOPers to stop “navel gazing” and go on the offensive against President Obama and his Democrats, and it appears they are getting right to it.

Today, the party votes on a resolution to ask the Democratic Party to rename itself “The Democrat Socialist Party.”

And Newt Gingrich, the former Republican House speaker, said current House speaker Nancy Pelosi should step down for accusing the CIA of lying to Congress about torture.

“Even Democrats have to be concerned that she is clearly not telling the truth,” Gingrich said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

So far, no Democrats have called on Pelosi to resign over the flap.

Elsewhere in Washington, the White House panel trying to find a way out of the economic crisis holds its first public meeting today. The 16-member Economic Recovery Advisory Board, led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, meets at 10 a.m.

Lots of administration officials on the Hill today.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testify at House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee at 12:30.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testifies before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee at 9:30.

FBI Director Robert Mueller testifies before the House Judiciary Committee at 10:00.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testifies on TARP at Senate Banking Committee at 9:30.

And finally, Attorney General Eric Holder and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announce an effort to crack down on Medicare fraud at 1 p.m.

photo credit: ABC News (Steele appears on an ABC News show, Feb.

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As he marks his 100th day in office, President Barack Obama has a new reason to celebrate — the defection of a senior Republican to his Democratic party.

Calling Arlen Specter “one tough hombre”, Obama appeared at the White House with the long-time moderate Republican and welcomed him as the “newest Democrat from the state of Pennsylvania.”

“I know that the decision that Senator Specter made yesterday wasn’t easy. It required long and careful consideration and it required courage,” Obama said.

Specter’s switch put Senate Democrats within grasp of being able to pass Obama’s ambitious agenda, including expanding health care and moving the nation toward energy independence, without any Republican votes.

Specter gave Democrats 59 seats in the 100-member Senate, one short of the 60 needed to clear Republican procedural roadblocks.

Obama didn’t mention that but he did take the opportunity to note that Specter’s decision reflects regognition that the administration is open to different points of views.

“We seek cooperation and common ground and …in these 100 days we’ve begun to move this nation in the right direction. ”

After his appearance Obama headed to Missouri for a town-hall style meeting — the kind he excelled at during his presidential campaign. Then he comes back to Washington for a prime-time news conference.

Obama also took a few minutes to talk about the swine flu outbreak, after a baby in Texas became the first confirmed death outside Mexico from the virus.

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention testify on Capitol Hill about swine flu and the government response.

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Photo credit: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (Obama and Vice President Joe Biden laugh as they welcome Specter to the Democratic party)

No matter what kind of day you’re having, it’s probably not as bad as the one Louis Caldera had yesterday. Caldera is director of the White House Military Office, and he approved what might well be one of the most criticized photo op choices of all time: a low-level flyover of Manhattan by a plane often used to transport the president as Air Force One.

Caldera said federal authorities informed the appropriate officials in New York and New Jersey beforehand, but many New Yorkers were instantly reminded of the 911 attacks when they saw the blue and white passenger plane flying by their skyline, trailed by an F-16 fighter jet carrying a photographer. The idea was to get a picture of Air Force One with the Statue of Liberty.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg excoriated the plan, and Caldera reportedly got a dressing down from a “furious” President Barack Obama. Caldera apologized profusely, saying federal authorities took “the proper steps” but “it’s clear that the mission created confusion and disruption.”

That didn’t begin to satisfy many in the media, especially those based in New York City. ABC television’s normally avuncular Charles Gibson added a sarcastic “You think?” after he reported Caldera’s apology. On morning television, the headlines were openly hostile. From CNN, it was “Air Force Dumb.” On Fox, the line was that the flight “Sparks 911 Flashback.” The New York Times ran a picture of the plane on its front page with the restrained caption, “A jet regularly used as Air Force One flew low over Jersey City, above, and Manhattan on Monday, scaring many.”

Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart called it “Mistakes on a Plane,” a riff on the 2006 movie “Snakes on a Plane.” 

It’s not like there’s nothing else to worry about: swine flu, health care and climate change, to name three being discussed in Washington today. So you tell us: is the widespread criticism of the AF1 photo op a continuing story or a one-day drama?

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Photo credit: REUTERS/Jim Young (Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington after a day trip to New York, November 11, 2008)

President Barack Obama  heads to Iowa later today for an Earth Day tour of a former Maytag plant which has been reconfigured to produce wind energy equipment, lining up the “green jobs” that the Obama administration is pushing as part of the future for the American heartland.

Green is on the menu back in Washington, too, where Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will talk about “Greening Diplomacy” at an Earth Day event, but only after she testifies at the House Foreign Affairs Committee about more down-to-earth aspects of U.S. policy around the globe.

Another key player on Obama’s environment team — Energy Secretary Stephen Chu — will also be on the Hill talking green at a hearing on energy and climate change legislation.

Red will be back in focus at the Economic Club of Washington, DC, however, where Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner delivers a speech about the Obama administration’s efforts to fight the global recession.

One Washington-area man evidently came up with his own strategy for fighting the recession. The Washington Post reports that an Alexandria, Virginia,  parking meter repairman has been accused of stealing $170,000 in quarters, nickels and dimes from local parking meters — a haul that could weigh between 4 and 19 tons depending on which kinds of coins were pocketed.

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REUTERS/Jason Reed (President Barack Obama planting tree)

REUTERS/Jim Young (A pile of newly minted US $1 coins at the U.S. Mint)

Back from his first international tour, President Barack Obama jumps back into his government’s efforts to help the struggling American economy.

First order of business is a roundtable discussion at the White House about low interest rates. The meeting will include members of Obama’s economic team and in an effort to draw attention to the benefits of low interest rates, Obama will also meet some homeowners who have refinanced now that rates are at historical lows.

During his meeting with his top economic advisers, Obama is expected to discuss the progress of “stress tests” of the 19 largest U.S. banks to see how they would withstand even tougher economic times.

U.S. stocks are expected to open higher today after the New York Times reported the U.S. banking industry seems to be in better shape than people think.

Lurking in the background of a day of economic discussions is the fate of American crew of the hijacked cargo ship off the coast of Somalia. A U.S. warship is in the vicinity and the crew have control of the Maersk Alabama but the hijackers are holding the American captain hostage in a lifeboat.

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Photo credits: REUTERS/Rick Wilking (Sign for foreclosed house in Denver);  REUTERS/file photo provided by family (Maersk Alabama Captain Richard Phillips in undated photo at his Vermont home)