Short memories make each era seem so much worse that the last.
We are not in a civil war or a war for survival of our nation. Our government is not sending agents out to start a fight or kill people among us just to make it seem bad.
What we do have is a slightly different flavor and highly charged edition of politics. And talk radio and yellow journalism help convince is that we each are being attacked. It's called "delusions of persecution", and it is a very real indicator of mental illness.
--
I voted for the last Bush in his first win. But I couldn't do it the second time because he was doing all he could to make bad decisions. Like the idea of privatizing social security he pushed - a program which is intended to be the backstop, not the retirement plan for the nation. The Patriot Act. Two wars which linger still. A financial crisis of epic proportions because of things like wide open lending of money institutions didn't actually have to lend, derivatives, and mortgage backed securities that took away incentive for better lending practices.
As President Obama tried to clean up the mess, he never tried to take away our rights (until now, and possibly with Obama care), and never did much to raise taxes or fix the budget problems left to his administration. He has been too busy trying to keep the second dip of the recession from really happening. Had he cut the budget and raised taxes and brought home the troops and not followed thru in the Bush bailout commitments (yes, they were), our economy would really be in the crapper.
He's not an excellent president, but he's far from the worst. I wish people would at least recognize that he isn't some buffoon stumbling through his terms. He is the President, not Dumbo, or whatever other pejorative you care to toss his way.