This piece had an urgent tone that matches that of the political climate it describes. Achenbach paints a colorful portrait of the public mood, using pretty emotional language for a news story, but the claims are substantiated by poll numbers, quotations, and an amusing survey of headlines.

A rare kind of story. Wry and witty without being too subjective, this mocks the cynicism in American political culture ahead of the State of the Union. In the past year confusion, apparently, has emerged as the byproduct of partisanship,

Insightful commentary about the shift in public attitudes towards Obama and his agenda of change. The author provides an informative overview of this cultural phenomenon, and cites a variety of inflamed book titles and news headlines to support his point that the rise of populism has fueled the flames of public anger to reach a boiling point in American politics.

This insightful opinion piece captures the mood/tone of much media coverage: total pessimism and contrariness. This is a significant problem, as it has a disempowering effect on any movement in any direction.

This is a well written article. Too many depend on cable and network television news and choose the channel that they agree to provide 'news'. And too many are not willing to consider any changes even if they know change is needed.

As pure opinion, the writing and perspective on politics in America is excellent.

It's more of an opinion piece but the writer does cite some polls to back up his views. Very funny and revealing though and for that reason alone, it is 'somewhat' recommended.