Change is Barack Obama’s political calling card and the fuel that propelled his never-waste-a-crisis agenda — but change is boomeranging big time on the president in a turbulent and unpredictable 2010.

For the first time since he emerged as a national political figure six years ago, Obama finds himself on the wrong side of the change equation — the status quo side — with challengers in both parties running against him, his policies or his handpicked candidates…

“When I talk to people, I still don’t get the sense that they’re getting down on Obama too much yet … but he is clearly behind the curve right now,” says Jim Dean, chairman of Democracy for America, which endorsed Halter against Obama-backed Democratic incumbent Sen. Blanche Lincoln.

“The goodwill on this thing is pretty close to running out,” said Dean, brother of former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. “This is really it right here, what happened Tuesday night is a catalyst for change. … You can’t run things structurally like the old machine.”