Pollster John Zogby reports in our weekly White House report card that support for the president is sliding in part because a majority believe the country is heading in the wrong direction while inside the administration there are problems with Obamacare and foreign policy. His recommendation: Obama go to policy and diplomatic summer school.

"On the thumbs up side, jobless claims are down again and signs are pointing again to slow but steady recovery. And the talk of Obama scandals has subsided and given way to headlines about weather and mayhem in Egypt.

"Which brings us to the thumbs down side: Could the U.S. really have been blindsided by events in Egypt? The U.S. has the most sophisticated intelligence-gathering capacity of any nation in the world but it could not see a revolutionary moment ready to break in a big nation that is of huge strategic importance? Another problem for Obama this week: His retreat from instituting a key feature of his health care reform -- the employer mandate -- because the government is not sufficiently ready for it.

"All of that comes as his approval numbers slide a few points down to the mid-40s. Even more ominous, the percentage of Americans who feel the country is headed in the right direction is down a few points to the 30% level. Mixed news but still not good this week."

Grade — C-/D+ (Summer School Recommended)

Zogby is the senior analyst for Zogby Analytics and author of the forthcoming (with Joan Snyder Kuhl) of " The First Globals: Understanding, Managing, and Unleashing our Millennial Generation."

Paul Bedard, The Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com.