Obama's decision to back down Wednesday over an issue as mundane as the timing of a major economic address before a joint session of Congress next week cast new scrutiny on his diminished political heft in the US capital.
New polls meanwhile showing Americans sour on his leadership and management of the economy further raised the stakes for Obama's new plan -- possibly his last chance to revive the economy before his 2012 reelection bid fires up.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said Wednesday's political shoving match over the date of the speech with Republican House Speaker John Boehner left most Americans cold, as they look to Washington to lift their economic gloom.
"It's irrelevant, this is small stuff. The sideshows don't matter. The economy matters. The American people matter. Jobs matter," Carney said.
Though the White House took the high ground, the episode revived questions aired during a July debt standoff over whether Obama's penchant for compromise leads to him getting rolled over by Republicans.
Obama offered a bold gambit on Wednesday by asking Boehner to host a rare joint session of Congress to debut his new economic plan on September 7 -- the same night as a Republican presidential candidates debate in California.
The White House insisted the timing was "coincidental" though few Washington observers buy that, reasoning that the president wanted to steal the spotlight from candidates vying to turf him out of office.
But Boehner refused to budge, and in what Capitol Hill sources said was an unprecedented move, said Obama should speak the next night instead.
The White House insisted Boehner's camp had raised no prior objections to the date, but the speaker's aides said he had never given the go-ahead as the recriminations flew between the two sides.
Knowing a president lacks the authority to simply show up at Congress and give a speech, Obama eventually relented and agreed to Boehner's date of September 8.
Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck filled in the last blank late Thursday, saying that the speaker had "respectfully invited" the president "at his request" to address lawmakers at 7:00 p.m. (2300 GMT) on Thursday.
The president is promising measures that in a normal political climate would attract bipartisan support, which will likely include a proposal to extend a payroll tax cut and invest in job creation infrastructure projects.
He has promised to run hard against Congress when he seeks a second term next year if they block his plans.
But some observers believe Obama lacks the political capital and ability to wield his presidential power effectively against a House elected last year on a wave of anger whipped up by the conservative Tea Party movement.
There was also new evidence Thursday of the perilous nature of Obama's position, heading into his reelection year, a factor which may be leading Republicans to sense weakness.
A Quinnipiac University poll found that Obama's job approval rating had dipped to an all time low with voters disapproving of him by 52 to 42 percent.
"Ominous for him is that the share of voters who think he has strong leadership qualities has dropped from 64/33 percent in January to 50/48 percent now," said Peter Brown, assistant director of polling at the university.
A CNN/ORC International poll meanwhile found that with unemployment stuck at 9.1 percent, Obama's approval rating on the economy had dipped to 34 percent.
The president hopes to set about reversing those numbers with the speech on measures designed to jolt the recovery back to life and to create jobs.
But as criticism of his leadership grows, Vice President Joe Biden is coming to his defense.
Obama's decisions, including ordering the special forces raid in May that killed Osama bin Laden, were proof of a "backbone like a ramrod," Biden said.
"Republicans spent a lot of time trying to tag him as a follower, not a leader. Well, he's put that to bed."
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