By Andy Ostroy, Huffingtionpost.com - The news just keeps getting worse for President Obama. With the economy threatening double-dip recession, unemployment at 9.1% and his approval ratings at the lowest levels of his presidency, his prospects for re-election are dimming by the minute.

Obama can't seem to gain any traction anywhere. His much ballyhooed jobs bill has been initially rejected by House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor, and its eventual passage, in any truly meaningful form, seems highly improbable. Additionally, new income stats out this week show that the poverty level rose to its highest level in almost 20 years. And on Tuesday came the potentially deadliest blow of all: former Congressman Anthony Weiner's heavily Democratic and Jewish 9th district voted for Republican Bob Turner, a Christian, over Jewish Democrat David Weprin. Democrats have held the seat since 1921. For the left, this special election loss to replace the scandal-plagued Weiner may be a chilling foreshadowing of next year's election. It's hard to imagine Obama winning if Democrats can't hold onto bastions like the 9th. Hillary, are you listening? I'm re-posting my video here urging you to run.

Secretary Clinton, the decision needs to be made now. There isn't a sane Democrat alive, or a truthful one, who believes, given the current political landscape, that Obama could survive against a strong, rational, pro-business, moderate Republican such as Mitt Romney who can also convince Jews that he, unlike Obama, will unequivocally support Israel. Make no mistake: losing diehard Queens and Brooklyn liberals, a great percentage of them Jewish, spells disaster for the president. Which is precisely why you must run and ensure that the Oval Office remains in Democratic hands. Without you, I firmly believe we are going to lose.

Don't discount Romney's inevitability as the GOP nominee. He handily beat his opponents in Monday's GOP Tea Party debate. He once again appeared presidential, and wiped the floor with them on a broad range of issues including the economy, jobs, Social Security, healthcare, immigration and national security. And, he's not batshit crazy like the rest of them (with the exception of Jon Huntsman Jr.). Lastly, as much as people would like to deny the racial factor, Romney is also white. For these reasons, he is going to appeal to a great many disaffected Democrats and Independents. New polls out show Obama has lost white and Hispanic support by as much as 50%.

To be sure, the Republican strategy of opposing Obama on every level since 2008 has worked exactly as they planned. They have him against the ropes and there's no reason on Earth to believe they're gonna take a dive now, no matter that it could lift the economy out of its doldrums and help struggling Americans. Their ideological zealotry and obsession with winning the White House isn't going to stop now that they can actually see the finish line. There is nothing, I repeat nothing, that Obama is going to do that will achieve Republican support and passage. Which means there's little reason to believe that there will be any material changes to this dire political landscape of Obama's. If he plays his cards right, and it surely seems like he's doing that quite well these days, we're gonna be looking at President Mitt Romney next year. Again, this is why Hillary Clinton must run for president against Obama in the 2012 primaries.