Summer of our discontent: Why is America so angry?

Steven Thomma
McClatchy Newspapers

last updated: August 28, 2009 08:08:29 PM

WASHINGTON — At the dawn of the Barack Obama era, the promise of hope has faded. America's public square is an angry and bitter place.

Finger pointing and yelling at town hall meetings this summer are signs of a country that's been building toward a boiling point for several years, stressed by a fast changing economy, a flood of immigration and threats at home by terrorists.

It's a land at turns frustrated and irate at a government that led them into an unpopular war, proved itself inept at helping its citizens in a disastrous hurricane, presided over an historic economic collapse, then went on a spending spree that could commit their country to decades of crushing debt.

Untold numbers of Americans seethe with anger at Obama and his fellow Democrats, resentment coupled with fear even more intense than the rage other Americans expressed just a year ago at George W. Bush and the Republicans. One telling sign: The comparisons of the president to Hitler remain the same — only the face has changed from Bush to Obama.

"It's ugly," said independent pollster John Zogby. "Ugly and sad because there were many of us who felt the ugliness could be transcended this time."

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