He racked up impressive achievements through Friday, his 60th day in office, including the $787 billion economic-stimulus package. But perceptions that the administration's handling of the reeling economy has been scattershot could cut short his honeymoon with the public and Congress.

"There are members of his own party who are saying, 'OK, you've got the vision, but we can't do everything all at once,' " said John Zogby, a national pollster based in New York. "But Americans did vote to get something done on a number of fronts, and he still is popular." Still, the administration hit some bumps this week:

" Obama, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and White House press secretary Robert Gibbs have faced a barrage of questions about the $165 million in bonuses at bailed-out insurer American International Group.

" On Wednesday, Obama dropped a controversial proposal that would have changed health-care benefits for wounded veterans.

" Various lawmakers on Democrat-controlled Capitol Hill are resisting other elements of Obama's massive $3.6 trillion federal budget, which sets aside billions for health-care reform, energy independence and education.

"I do think in Washington it's a little bit like 'American Idol,' except everybody is Simon Cowell," Obama quipped Thursday on NBC's "Tonight Show."

Accomplishments

Nobody would ever count Obama out after just 60 days into his term, a period that has included the quick passage of the unprecedented stimulus package. Last month in Mesa, he announced a housing-mortgage rescue plan. He has reversed President George W. Bush's ban on federal funds for embryonic-stem-cell research. He initiated the process to wind down the Iraq war and shutter the Guantanamo Bay detention center while bolstering troop strength in Afghanistan.

Obama still boasts a solid personal-favorability rating, which suggests he has plenty of political capital left to tap.

But as economic anxiety continues, the nation awaits a clearer strategy from the administration.

"It's pretty clear that the Obama administration has bumbled, just as every other administration has bumbled, and there are questions out there in the public about their ability to manage the economy," said Kareem Crayton, an associate professor of law and political science at the University of Southern California. "Afford him for the moment a significant amount of latitude, but it's not endless. Over the course of time, people want to see results."

Political observers noted that the brutal recession and tangled banking and financial crisis inherited from Bush should be taken into account when rating Obama's performance. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the last president to face "this many crises all at once, this early in his presidency," Zogby said.

Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz, echoed that sentiment. "The mess that was left is vast. Every time we turn around, there's something else. Given the scenario, I think he's done a good job to try to break us out of the particular crises that we're in right now. And I think that's more than one crisis."

The FDR standard

Roosevelt's rapid 1933 response to the Great Depression set the standard for achievement by a new president in his first 100 days.

But Vice President Joe Biden this week suggested that even FDR might be stymied by the 21st-century banking meltdown and financial turmoil.

"This president inherited the most difficult first 100 days of any president, I would argue, including Franklin Roosevelt," Biden said Monday at a Democratic National Committee event in Washington. "It was clear the problem that Roosevelt inherited. This is a more complicated economic calculus. We've never, ever, ever been here before, here or in the world."

Republicans argue that Obama should focus on the economy rather than using the crisis as an excuse to expand government in unrelated ways.

"They've overextended themselves and are trying to push too many initiatives at one time, at the expense of the one they really should be focusing on," said Frank Donatelli, chairman of GOPAC, an organization that recruits and trains Republican candidates for Congress and other offices. "His penchant for big-government solutions has given the GOP its voice back."