Strangely enough, most liberal takes on the State of Obama, which is said to be perilous, come couched in the most passive tense.

The hostile Republican House just happens to be there. The Tea Party also just happens to be there, a spontaneous thing that sprang up for no reason. The same thing goes for the toxic divide now gripping the country, which Gallup calls one of the deepest rifts ever, worse than the days of Bubba and Dubya (brothers under the skin, as they will now tell you), from which President Obama had promised relief.