(Thumbnail image: Australia's ABC News)

As President Obama gains ground on health care, some critics say he’s lost focus, leaving the market to hemorrhage millions of Americans jobs.

With unemployment reaching a 26-year high, politicians and pundits on both sides of the aisle say they’re beginning to worry Obama seriously mishandled America’s recovery.

We’re taking a look at what they say went wrong, and what’s next, with perspectives from MSNBC, FOX News, CNN, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.

First up, official jobless numbers are 10.2 percent, but FOX News points out, the actual number of Americans facing employment troubles could be much higher.

“The jobless rate only rates the measures the number of workers now on the roles.  What about the millions who get no benefits, giving up after trying to find a job for weeks?  And what about those who settled for part-time jobs?  They aren’t counted in the 10.2 percent.  Add them up and the rate is actually above 17 percent nationwide.  Get this, that’s about one out of six workers out of work.”

The Washington Post questions Obama’s indirect plan to save and create jobs, saying a direct approach could be more helpful to Democrats, economically and politically.

“If you're spending hundreds of billions of dollars on stimulus, why not do it with conviction? Engaging in more forthright job creation could invite some political pitfalls (such as those constant accusations of socialism), but is double-digit unemployment any less a political risk?”

On MSNBC’s Meet The Press, liberal panelist Rachel Maddow says Democrats need to take the bold and politically risky step of creating a second stimulus.

“Whatever Democrats do, they’re going to be accused of overspending.  No matter what they do.  If they don’t spend another dime between now and 2010, they’re going to be accused of it.  And so, if they’re getting shy about the second stimulus, it’s not going to make conservatives back off and say, ‘Oh, Democrats are the party of fiscal moderation.’  They’re going to get slammed as overspenders anyway and their choice is whether they’re going to do it with intractable, double-digit unemployment and an appearance they’re not doing enough to stop it, or whether they’re going to be aggressive, and they need to not be shy about a second stimulus.”

The New York Times editorial page says a second stimulus package focused on jobs is the best and perhaps the only option.

“We know that more stimulus spending and government programs are a fraught topic. But they are exactly what the country needs. It may be the only way to prevent a renewed downturn. And the only way to create the jobs needed to put Americans back to work.”

On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, commentator Mike Barnacle, said although a stimulus might help create jobs, it’s no more than a political pipedream.

“They’re going to—even if people believe, and I believe there probably is a need for second stimulus—they’re not going to get a majority in the House or the Senate to vote for a second stimulus.  All you hear when you walk around out there—they’re no different from we are, they go home on the weekends—all you hear is, ‘Do we have the money?  Are we going broke?  How do we afford these things?’” 

But not all analysts are raising alarm.  CNN’s Christine Romans says signs of the recovering economy are mixed but not cause for panic.

“I think this is the new normal.  We’re going to hear catastrophic economic news followed by, 'Hey wait, but things are doing well here.'  This is the way it’s going to be for a period of time.  You’re not going to see that jobless rate start to come down and this is what the treasury secretary said this weekend, you’re not going to see it come down until you see a period of sustained economic growth.  And that could be months.  That could be years.”

So what do you think? Did President Obama drop the ball on jobs? Or do Americans need to be patient as the economy recovers?