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Romney And Democratic Rival President Obama Have Led Their Partisan Backers Down A Trail Of Lies, Negativity And Vacuous Policies That Seem Certain To Guarantee An Angry Electorate Four More Years Of Gridlock.

-Ron Fournier

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Romney And Democratic Rival

Ron Fournier

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Romney And Democratic Rival President Obama Have Led Their Partisan Backers Down A Trail Of Lies, Negativity And Vacuous Policies That Seem Certain To Guarantee An Angry Electorate Four More Years Of Gridlock.

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Historians Will Likely Give Obama Credit For Steering The Country Away From The Brink Of Economic Collapse In 2009.

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Blending Hard-bitten Realism With Long-view Optimism, Obama Said That Every 20 Or 30 Years Brings A New Cycle Of Pessimism In America.

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Obama Shows No Sign Of Easing Up On Negativity.

It's An Appeal As Old As America And Its Presidency: This Is An Extraordinary Country Populated By Hard-working, Big-dreaming, Freedom-loving People Graced By God When They're Not Pulling Themselves Up By The Bootstraps.

We, The People. Manifest Destiny. Conceived In Liberty. Fear Itself. Ask Not. Morning In America. United We Stand. Yes, We Can. In Times Of Great Change And Tumult, Presidents Seek To Inspire Beleaguered Americans By Reminding Them Of Their National Identity.

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If History Is A Guide, A Victory For Obama Means He Faces The Prospect Of A Second Term Dogged By Scandal Or Inertia.

By Nominating Chuck Hagel To Be His Defense Secretary, President Obama Is Putting Forward An Aloof Contrarian Who Doesn't Suffer Fools - A Striving Politician Who Considers Himself Above Politics.

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Political Reporters And Political Professionals Rushed To Judgment Against Romney Because We Crave Clear, Unambiguous Story Lines.

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With Gridlock The Norm, Congress's Approval Rating Is Below 10 Percent And The Public Has Lost Faith In Its National Leadership.

Approval Rating

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Barack Obama Won A Second Term But No Mandate. Thanks In Part To His Own Small-bore And Brutish Campaign, Victory Guarantees The President Nothing More Than The Headache Of Building Consensus In A Gridlocked Capital On Behalf Of A Polarized Public.

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Romney And Democratic Rival President Obama Have Led Their Partisan Backers Down A Trail Of Lies, Negativity And Vacuous Policies That Seem Certain To Guarantee An Angry Electorate Four More Years Of Gridlock.

Clearly, The Obama Presidency Hasn't Wiped Out Racial Prejudices.

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Political Consultants Are Pugilists, Masters In The Dark Art Of Negativity. Which Is Why It's Surprising To Hear Democrats Such As Steve Mcmahon And Republicans Like Rich Galen Urging Their Presidential Candidates To Be More, Well, Positive.

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For A Man Who Has Compared Himself To Theodore Roosevelt And The Nation's Challenges To Those Of The Gilded Age, Obama Put Forward A Tepid Agenda.

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You Can Almost See Voters Nodding Their Heads At Home: The Public's Faith In Politicians And Political Institutions Has Been On A Steep And Dangerous Decline For Decades, Because Elected Leaders Fail To Deliver.

According To A Public Policy Polling Survey, Most Americans Find Lice And Colonoscopies More Appealing Than Capitol Hill.

Shock, Confusion, Fear, Anger, Grief, And Defiance. On Sept. 11, 2001, And For The Three Days Following The Worst Terrorist Attack On U.s. Soil, President George W. Bush Led With Raw Emotion That Reflected The Public's Whipsawing Stages Of Acceptance.

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Andrew Jackson Was The First President To Claim That The Desires Of The Public Overrode Congress's Constitutional Prerogatives. Virtually Every President Since Jackson Has Claimed The Mantle, Even While Lacking Two Ingredients Of An Electoral Mandate: A Landslide Victory And A Specific Agenda.

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The Failure Of The White House And Congress To Seriously Address The Nation's Fiscal Situation Is Certain To Broaden The Belief Among Many Voters That The U.s. Political System Is Broken.

At His Best, Obama Promised To Work With Republicans To Reduce The Deficit In A Way That Honors Both Individualism And Community.

One Of Obama's Most Impressive Attributes Is His Quiet Confidence: Voters Sense That He Is Comfortable In His Own Skin, A Dedicated Father And Friend Who Won't Waste Time With The Phony Rituals Of Washington.

Don't Underestimate Questions From The Crowd; Technology Has Made Voters More Informed Than Ever.

Republicans Would Have Preferred The Court Overturn The Health Care Bill, An Act That Would Have Underscored Obama's Biggest Liability - The Perception Among Voters, Including Those Who Like And Trust Him, That He Has Been Ineffective.

White House Operatives Went To Great Lengths To Show Obama Shifting Focus From Wars Abroad To Domestic Issues At Home.

Obama Still Has Work To Do With The Vision Thing. Convincing Voters That He Has A Credible, Practical Plan To Turn The Nation Around Is A Process, Not A Speech.

Most Political Journalists Come To Washington Because They're Snappy Writers, Big Thinkers, Or News Breakers. Me? My Ticket To The Big Leagues Had Little To Do With Talent. It Was Mostly About The Governor I Was Covering, Bill Clinton.

Secretary Of State Hillary Rodham Clinton Is The Most Influential Woman In Washington - For What She Has Accomplished And For What She May Yet Do: Win The Presidency.

Ap Promoted Me To The White House Beat Because I Knew Clinton, His Family, Friends, And Staff Better Than Anybody In The National Press Corps. Those Contacts Helped Me Break A Few Stories And Get My Career In Washington Jump-started.

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