A little well-directed anger can go a long way toward helping voters weather an economic crisis.

Or so hopes President Obama, who this week fairly urged Americans to direct their frustration over the $165 million in bonuses collected by American International Group Inc. employees at Wall Street executives and the Washington regulators and lawmakers who let them run amok.

It was the president’s parting advice as he left town for a two-day swing through southern California following a turbulent week during which his administration struggled to respond to a political tempest over the AIG affair.

After issuing conflicting signals about the government’s ability to recover the money, administration officials settled on a crisis containment strategy built around provoking popular outrage over corporate excesses and reinforcing Obama’s calls for shared sacrifice in the face of the crisis.

“I don’t want to quell anger,” Obama said Wednesday before boarding his helicopter for a quick trip to Andrews Air Force Base and his flight to Long Beach, Calif. “I think people are right to be angry. I’m angry. What I want us to do, though, is channel our anger in a constructive way.”

The White House strategy is designed to show Obama understands that Wall Street elites shouldn’t can’t get preferential treatment when millions of Americans are worried about keeping their jobs, paying their mortgages and preserving their life savings, according to strategists familiar with the administration’s thinking.

The administration is wagering Americans outside the Beltway are more eager to hear Obama take responsibility for addressing the mess than sort out when officials found out about the bonuses, or how the controversy reflects on Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner , the administration’s point man on the taxpayer-funded bailout of the financial industry and the object of intensifying criticism in Congress.

But regardless how well the strategy works, the AIG flap will make it more difficult for the administration to sell future relief packages aimed at stabilizing the financial system or helping other ailing sectors of the economy, including the auto industry. And, critics say, it is further undermining independent voters’ confidence in the administration’s handling of the crisis.

In one sign of eroding support, Quinnipiac University poll of Ohio voters released on Wednesday showed Obama’s approval ratings among independents in the strategically important swing state has fallen 10 percent since early February.

A national telephone survey by Rasmussen Reports released Thursday showed half of the respondents believe the government will overreact to the nation’s economic problems — a 7 percent increase over a month ago.

“Republicans have done a good job harping on out-of-control spending and this fits nicely into that category,” GOP strategist Scott Reed said of the AIG bonuses. “The president now owns the AIG issue and the problem lays at the White House, because they approved these bonuses and it’s an issue everyone can understand.”

Helio Fred Garcia, a crisis management consultant and adjunct professor of management at New York University, said it’s essential that Obama continue to give voice to public outrage over excesses like the AIG bonuses in order to maintain voters’ confidence in his budget and major initiatives in health care, education and the environment.

“The buildup of minor missteps can over time become a drag on public trust,” Garcia said. “But it’s incremental, because Americans most of the time aren’t paying attention to legislative or regulatory processes or that level of detail. They’re really looking for tone, some comfort that their leader gets it.”