I once saw a documentary by filmmaker Byron Hurt, called 'Barack and Curtis,' comparing President Obama to the rapper 50 Cent. Such a comparison might seem silly, given that one of these men is the leader of the free world and the other is a wealthy "gangsta" with more business sense than a Harvard professor. But in this case, Barack might want to learn a bit from Curtis in order to get a little gangsta with the Republican Party, because the right wing has already gotten incredibly thugged out with him.

Through a web of lies, unfair attacks and orchestrated campaigns to discredit the president, the right-wingers have been relatively successful in slowly eroding Obama's base of support. While President Obama once rode the wave of 60 percent approval ratings and amazing popularity, the numbers are now hovering around 45 percent, and morale within the Obama camp has been dramatically weakened. Let Obama lose an additional 10 percent of his supporters and you've got another President Bush.

I've been critical of President Obama when he was wrong, and that won't ever change. But I stand by my assertion that Obama is the most intelligent and capable leader our nation has had in a very long time. He is certainly better than John McCain and Sarah Palin, whose intellectual and professional flaws make a mockery of our political system.

With all that said, those who worked so hard to get Obama elected need to realize that the game is just beginning. It certainly didn't come to an end when the president was sworn into office. All the young folks who walked through their neighborhoods to pass out Obama flyers need to walk those same neighborhoods to support health care reform. Those who attended Obama rallies during the campaign need to counter the rowdy right-wing goons who try to disrupt town hall meetings today. In times of war, we have to trust our leadership and clear the path for them to be successful. Unlike Rush Limbaugh, we do not want America, nor our president, to fail.

Yes, the president is at war. He is at war with a nation that enjoys unintelligent leadership. He is battling with those who follow the ignorant advice of Limbaugh, an uneducated, hypocritical, ex-drug addict who gains his momentum from the racist social infrastructure of America's past and present. Right now, President Obama needs your help. Obama supporters must love Barack as much as his enemies hate him. The forest fire is burning, and we are trying to blow it out from our living rooms. That's just not going to work.

The onus to get the momentum moving again is not entirely on Obama's supporters. Obama himself must be held accountable for his role in the recent slump in public ambition. By distracting the health care debate to stand up for an Ivy Leaguer who hangs out at Martha's Vineyard, Obama immediately lost 7 percent of his white supporters. The Henry Louis Gates case had nothing to do with racial profiling, and I am offended by the suggestion that his spat with a police officer represented a real racial issue that the president should have been dealing with. There is serious racial profiling occurring across America, and a black man was probably shot somewhere today without any media attention.

The recent resignation of Van Jones is also problematic. The creation of green jobs has been one of the centerpieces of the Obama administration, so seeing Jones leave his position is disturbing for multiple reasons. Jones is both extraordinary and capable, handling the situation as best he could. But the truth is that he should have been vetted more carefully. Jones is too much like me, and people like me get fired from political positions.

Obama has also found that his greatest strength can be a serious weakness: reaching across the aisle for consensus. By watering down his promises to the left and attempting to gain support on the right, the president has bored and angered his base, while obtaining almost nothing from those who are determined to hate him. Any political capital gained with white conservatives was lost during the Gates debacle. There is a point where you must replace bridge building with mobilization: You must find something that excites your base and use the energy to push through your agenda. You can't keep reaching out to those who are using racism as a weapon to politically lynch you.

Where are the young people, Mr. President? Well, they sure as heck aren't sitting around worried about health care reform. Many young people can get idealistically excited about the idea of having a president who isn't named George Bush, but they can't get excited about single payer systems, public options and prescription drug benefits. While young Obama supporters are psychologically disconnected from the health care debate, the old racists of America are piling up at town hall meetings to stop the "communist Negro-Hitler" from destroying our country. The right wingers are the ones in the president's face, and they are using health care reform as their opportunity to politically disable him. When the people who hate you live next door and your supporters live across the city, you might be in for a butt whooping.

Being president when the economy is this bad is like playing quarterback on a losing football team: You are always going to get more blame than you deserve. While being president during a bad economy stinks, being the first black president during the worst downturn of the last 80 years is a recipe for disaster. Although there are those who lay legitimate critiques at the feet of our president, there are many who have not evolved beyond America's long-held tradition of scapegoating a black man.

Either way, it's time for Obama to get tough and for his supporters to get tough with him. If you gave money during the campaign, giving your voice during the Obama presidency can help get the job done. All the while, "Barack the man" must sometimes trump "Barack the politician" when it comes to remaining loyal to those who love him. Hate is not conquered by more hate; it must be conquered by love. But as 50 Cent might tell Barack Obama, sometimes your love has to be a little gangsta.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a distinguished scholar with the Barbara Jordan Institute for Policy Research. He is also the author of 'What if George Bush Were a Black Man?' To have Dr. Boyce's commentary delivered to your e-mail, please click here. For more information, please visit www.BoyceWatkins.com.