The C word is being thrown around a lot in Washington these days.

Barack Obama is the latest 'Comeback Kid'.

Granted, it's a moniker flung around with abandon ever since Bill Clinton first claimed it in 1992.

But there he was, being written off after the self-described shellacking at the hands of the American voters in early November. And now, he's about to head to Hawaii to join his family for the Christmas break, feeling like a winner.

Just six weeks ago he was shattered by the strength of the rebuke from the American public.

The mid-term elections delivered losses for the Democrats across the country.

The Republican Party had the largest number of wins in the Senate since 1994.

In the House, they gained 63 seats and took control.

The shift in power doesn't take place until Congress returns in 2011.

And the expectation that Barack Obama would achieve much at all in the dying days of this lame-duck Congress was low.

Just three weeks ago the White House spokesman Robert Gibbs stood before the media at one of his daily briefings and rattled off the legislative to-do list.

There were the tax cuts, unemployment insurance, the Dream Act, Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the new START treaty which has now been approved.

As he drew breath, one reporter could be heard saying "good luck".

But the US president has managed to almost pull it off.

He's negotiated a tax compromise with Republicans, a nuclear arms control treaty with Russia, and even managed to find victory on one of his core election promises, to rid the US military's ban on gays - a critical issue to his party's liberal base.

They're huge wins, occurring within just a matter of weeks. And they occurred when few were expecting this damaged president to come up with anything but more losses.

They didn't come without some flack.

The tax deals, where he agreed with Republican demands to keep tax cuts for all income levels, including the wealthy in return for extending unemployment benefits to long-term unemployed, was seen as by some as a compromise.

For many Democrats though it was a capitulation.

They're still wearing the cloak of disappointment they donned within months of Barack Obama's election. And they feel even more frustrated that this president who promised so much has, when faced with the realities of Washington politics, been forced to offer less.

But the reality is, who else have they got? It's not as if they'll turn their backs on a Democratic president and risk catapulting a Republican back into the White House.

But for those wanting to scream 'Comeback' from the rooftops, remember the two issues that are bound to keep delivering tough news - Afghanistan and the economy.

Neither is going to be fixed very quickly.

And if the opinion polls can be relied upon, Americans don't have much faith in Barack Obama being able to fix them, quickly or slowly.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll shows the president's approval rating dropping during his term from 68 to 49 per cent, while his disapproval rating has grown from 25 to 47 per cent.

The only bright point for the White House is that his disapproval rating now is slightly better than it was in earlier September when it hit 53 per cent.

He may have scored wins on Capitol Hill in one of the most productive lame duck sessions Congress has seen.

But outside of the Beltway, he's got a way to go.

Lisa Millar is one of the ABC's north America correspondents, based in Washington. You can follow her on Twitter @LisaMillar.