Obama shows no sign of easing up on negativity.

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.

White House operatives went to great lengths to show Obama shifting focus from wars abroad to domestic issues at home.

American exceptionalism is the recurring character in the nation's narrative.

Obama is capable - as evidenced by his first-term success with health care reform. But mandate-building requires humility, a trait not easily associated with him.

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.

At his best, Obama promised to work with Republicans to reduce the deficit in a way that honors both individualism and community.