All the smart sounding solutions he heard in the faculty lounge about fairness and social justice don't work in the real world.
I am inclined to agree he is toast. There is absolutely nothing he can do to turn the jobs situation around except a) backtrack completely on every policy he’s ever had, which he won’t do, or b) recreate a massive WPA public employment program, which he won’t get the money to do.
The only caveat is that if some Ross Perot-type populist jumps into the race bashing the banks and Wall Street, he might eek out a thin plurality in a three-way split.