At The Start Of His Second Term,

Say What You Want To Say About The Rest Of His Presidency, Including His Tone-deaf Response To Katrina And A War Waged In Iraq On False Pretenses, Bush Connected With Americans In The Aftermath Of 9/11 Because He Looked As Frail And Unforgiving As We Felt.

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

Sitting In The Oval Office, Beneath A Painting Of George Washington, With A Bust Of Martin Luther King Jr. Over His Right Shoulder And A Bust Of Abraham Lincoln Over His Left Shoulder, Obama Told 'national Journal' That The Country's Economic Woes Are Deep And Endemic.

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.

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.