Americans have always evinced some distrust of government, but the current situation has exacerbated this to a degree that may be unprecedented.

If newspapers were a baseball team, they would be the Mets - without the hope for those folks at the very pinnacle of the financial food chain - who average nearly $24 million a year in income - 'next year.'

To become informed and hold government accountable, the general public needs to obtain news that is comprehensive yet interesting and understandable, that conveys facts and outcomes, not cosmetic images and airy promises. But that is not what the public demands.

America's great newspapers have staffs that range from 50 percent to 70 percent of what they were just a few years ago.

More and more, Democrats are starting to worry they that they have a more um, colorful version of Jimmy Carter on their hands. Obama acts cool as a proverbial cucumber but that awful '70s show seems frightfully close to a rerun.

Certainly there are worse sins than doing everything possible to make your presidency matter.

Stylistically speaking, Barack Obama could hardly be further from Jimmy Carter if he really had been born in Kenya.