After watching a Republican president deal with a difficult and unpopular situation and now a Democrat deal with a different but difficult and unpopular situation, I am convinced that in these cases, the opposition party often just makes sure to disagree with the leader without any good solutions.
The first situation I am talking about is Iraq before the surge. At that time, the Iraq War was going very badly - it was unpopular and Bush was being criticized for the very poor management of the war. Democrats at that time played on the president's unpopularity by attacking the war. But the only solution they offered was to leave, even though leaving meant allowing the country to devolve completely into civil war. Fortunately, Bush pushed through the surge - and even more fortunately the Sunni awakening happened at the same time - and Iraq came back from the brink.
The second situation is the current economic malaise and Obama's handling of it. There is unemployment near 9% and interest rates that cannot get any lower to create growth. Republicans will not support fiscal stimulus and even oppose further easy money policies (calling it treason). They use the economy to beat up on the president but offer no real solutions. Their one big talking point is decreasing regulations, which is not at all serious (though admittedly would do less harm than Democratic proposals to pull out of Iraq).
The major difference is that Bush was able to push through the surge in spite of Democratic objections. So he saved Iraq despite Democrat's opposition. Obama is unable to do anything similar for the economy.
What is important is that in both cases, the best solution is / was more of what the president has / had been trying. For Bush it was more troops. For Obama it is more stimulus (and easy money). But the opposition party cannot admit that what the president was doing was right but not enough, especially when that is unpopular. So the best they can do for themselves is to oppose everything, let the situation deteriorate, and reap the political rewards. Sad.
