4 analyses of the state of the world

"Look at me, I’m as poor as Job, I have no wife nor garden nor children, nothing - just a gun, a sparrow hawk and three dogs, but I have never complained of anything and I never shall, I live in the forest, I look around me - everything I see is mine. I come home and I sing a song." - from a Cossack from the Caucasus in 1851.

"Peasants till the soil, house-servants serve their masters, merchants do business, soldiers do their service, coppersmiths make samovars, priests say mass, and gentlemen do nothing." - from muzhik children of Leo Tolstoy’s school in 1861.

"Why are the beauty of the sun, the beauty of a human face, the beauty of a folk song, the beauty of a act of love or self-denial intelligible to all, without any special training.?" - from Leo Tolstoy who in 1961, felt people are sufficient unto themselves.

Fast forward to 2009 - how does a popular, political pundit, writer and analyst sum up the present state of affairs before the inauguration of our next President, Barack Obama - " Suspend disbelief." - These words are only possible when his leadership is suspected of being genteel and faith in his leadership is without content.