After a difficult August, Obama has come out firing, apparently trying to recreate the barnstorming political persona which carried him to a thumping presidential electoral victory in a wave of euphoria last year.

In the last week alone, Obama has delivered a major address to Congress which helped bolster his health care reform plan, lambasted Wall Street in another big speech, and adopted a more partisan posture at political events.

So far, polls suggest the tactic may be making small strides in stabilizing opinion poll ratings that have taken a hammering from conservative attacks on his health care plan, and doubts over the president's handling of the economy.

But it remains unclear whether any gains will be sustainable and surveys reveal disquiet among some Americans about the scope and presentation of some key policies.

A CNN/Opinion Research poll published this week put Obama's personal approval rating at 58 percent, up five percent from late August.

The latest Gallup Daily Tracking poll had Obama's personal approval rating at 52 percent, up from a low of 50 percent before he delivered his major address to Congress last week but down a point from Monday.

Following that speech, the Rasmussen Reports daily tracking poll saw support increasing daily for the health care proposal Obama is trying to enact in Congress against stiff Republican opposition.

But on Tuesday, 45 percent of those asked said they supported passing the initiative -- up just a single point since the speech, with 52 percent opposed.

A Washington Post poll this week suggested that a bare majority -- 51 percent -- approved of the way Obama is handling the economy, and only 39 percent approved of his handling of huge government deficits.

Obama aides dismiss questions about the state of Obama's popularity, arguing he came to Washington to get big things done, rather than admire his personal poll numbers.

But passing big ticket agenda items like health care reform and landmark global warming legislation will be much easier if Obama is perceived to be popular and leading public opinion rather than suffering from it.

Since emerging from his interrupted vacation in Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts and the Camp David retreat in Maryland, Obama has deployed the weight of his office, apparently to reestablish his authority.

His next big public relations push will come on Sunday, when he is scheduled to blitz five political talk shows ahead of the United Nations General Assembly in New York and the G20 summit in Pittsburgh next week.

Aides said last week that Obama's address on health care to a joint session of Congress came somewhat earlier than planned, followed furious debate over his proposal during the summer.

The spectacle of the president, in the formal setting of the House of Representatives, broadcast live on network television, did appear to settle the debate, though seems to have failed to win over much Republican support.

On Saturday, Obama reprised many of his best campaign-trail lines at a raucous rally in Minnesota, again pushing his health care reform plan, as his audience in a sports arena chanted his election slogan "Yes, we can!"

On Monday, Obama journeyed to the epicenter of the US financial industry on Wall Street, and lectured top executives in blunt language likely to appeal to Americans who believe the sector bilked taxpayers for bailouts.

"I want them to hear my words: we will not go back to the days of reckless behavior and unchecked excess at the heart of this crisis, where too many were motivated only by the appetite for quick kills and bloated bonuses," Obama said.

On Tuesday, in midwestern Ohio, often the crucial swing state in US presidential elections, Obama turned up the populist rhetoric another notch, in a speech that sounded like part of a reelection pitch.

"As long as you've still got an ounce of fight left in you, I'll have a ton of fight left in me," Obama roared at a General Motors Assembly plant churning out a new generation of fuel-efficient Chevrolet Cobalt cars.

"I've said it before, I'm skinny but I'm tough."

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