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.

Obama shows no sign of easing up on negativity.

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

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

In Washington, compromise has become a dirty word.

It's a bit unfair to accuse Obama of dividing the nation when the facts show that it already is.

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.