Here's a discouraging...

...figure: only 37% of white Americans "think that Barack Obama has been a better president than George W. Bush." Really? 63% of white Americans are -- at best -- not sure that Bush was worse than Obama? What parallel universe do these people live in?

This dovetails with my (still) developing narrative that the United States, unlike some countries, is a motley collection of competing tribes, each fearful of the others. And white Christians, although the largest and most influential tribe, have absolutely no time for anyone who -- unlike George W. Bush, for example -- isn't working constantly to support their position at the top of the food chain.

I guess a friend of mine was right when he said, in a different context, "It's all about fear."