In a conference call on Friday, conducted from Air Force One, a reportedly tired and weary President Obama pled with donors to send cash now. “The majority on this call maxed out to my campaign last time. I really need you to do the same this time,” Obama said. He continued:

In 2008 everything was new and exciting about our campaign. And now I’m the incumbent president. I’ve got gray hair. People have seen disappointment because folks had a vision of change happening immediately. And it turns out change is hard, especially when you’ve got an obstructionist Republican Congress.

Nevertheless, we’ve gotten more done in the last three years than most presidents do in eight years … I just hope you guys haven’t become disillusioned. I hope all of you still understand what’s at stake and why this is so important … I still believe in you guys, and I hope you still believe in me and the possibilities of this campaign …. I can’t do this by myself, and the progress we’ve made could unravel pretty quickly.

When an incumbent president has to beg his donors this way, he’s in serious trouble. Obama has long painted himself as a victim of a Republican Congress and a system that simply won’t turn over unilateral power to him; now he’s weeping to his disappointed funders about it. As for his lament that he “can’t do this by myself,” perhaps he ought to explain that to Americans, since he just essentially legalized millions of illegal immigrants by fiat.

And Obama’s still groping in the dark for answers as to why his policies – including Obamacare – aren’t more popular:

The American people–the nice thing is they agree with our message when they hear it. We just can’t be drowned out … A few billionaires can’t drown out millions of voices.

This, of course, is sheer nonsense. President Obama’s message has been trumpeted loud and clear for years by a compliant mainstream media. No other president has ever used the bully pulpit the way Obama has. He’s no victim.

But he’s losing the fundraising war anyway. He’s losing it for a simple reason: his policies are unpopular. If Obama has to cry to his own donors this way, this early, he’s got bigger campaign problems than anybody has yet contemplated.