The bad news continues for Sen. Barack Obama. After weeks of losing ground to Sen. John McCain, Obama has finally fallen behind in a major poll.

According to the latest Reuters/Zogby poll, McCain has taken a 5 point lead. The majority of the respondents believe McCain would be a better manager of the economy.

And, taking an average of all the national polls, Obama is leading McCain by just over one point, according to RealClearPolitics.

The negative ads McCain has released over the past month are apparently working. He’s successfully been painting Obama as a celebrity who would raise taxes on the majority of Americans. Even though that’s not the case.

It’s really no big shock that this happened. Obama has been slipping not just in the polls, but also in perceived confidence as well.

Take their positions on off-shore drilling. Though both senators previously opposed it, they both now support it. The difference is that McCain has taken ownership of his new position and never looked back. Obama, on the other hand, has a bit of Kerry-itis. That is, he thinks that presenting an argument that contains subtleties is effective and will be understood by the American people.

Obama has been arguing that he’d now favor off-shore drilling if it was politically necessary to get other energy initiatives through. That doesn’t seem particularly strong, even though we all know that’s how politics work.

Americans want someone who will say, unequivocally, “This is how I will use the office of the presidency of the United States.” Obama does keep hammering home his messages of change, but it’s just not effective anymore.

McCain has been able to go negative on Obama, distort the facts and claim that the media are giving Obama an unfair advantage.

What’s the solution for Obama? Does he go negative? Will he bounce back as he announces his vice presidential pick this weekend and rolls into the convention?

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.