For The Past Eight Years,

Three Centuries After The Appearance Of Franklin's 'courant,' It No Longer Requires A Dystopic Imagination To Wonder Who Will Have The Dubious Distinction Of Publishing America's Last Genuine Newspaper. Few Believe That Newspapers In Their Current Printed Form Will Survive.

Americans Continue To Suffer From A Notoriously Short Attention Span. They Get Mad As Hell With Reasonable Frequency, But Quickly Return To Their Families And Sitcoms. Meanwhile, The Corporate Lobbies Stay Right Where They Are, Outlasting All The Populist Hysteria.

Few Progressives Would Take Issue With The Argument That, Significant Accomplishments Notwithstanding, The Obama Presidency Has Been A Big Disappointment.

Trends In Circulation And Advertising - The Rise Of The Internet, Which Has Made The Daily Newspaper Look Slow And Unresponsive; The Advent Of Craigslist, Which Is Wiping Out Classified Advertising-have Created A Palpable Sense Of Doom.

Stylistically Speaking, Barack Obama Could Hardly Be Further From Jimmy Carter If He Really Had Been Born In Kenya.