The financial crisis, and the recession it spawned, have created much confusion and uncertainty across the land. The causes of the downturn are hotly debated—and spun for political advantage. Solutions have, so far, remained elusive. Perhaps we can gain a bit of clarity by identifying what did not cause the downturn.

Barack Obama is an honest man. He promised change that would shake the heavens. The American voters endorsed his vision and handed him a resounding mandate to go forth and shatter the many weak institutions of mere mortals. And he intends to deliver. Who would have guessed—even a year ago—that mortgage brokers passing out easy money, that families moving into four-bedroom homes years before they dreamed, that Wall Street CEOs admiring stout profits and soaring bonuses, that Republicans pushing the American dream deeper into the populace were in fact creating a great storm that would allow one man the power to create an entirely new economy—an economy directed not by the emotional and unreliable masses but by a highly educated, coolly calculating, visionary elite elected by their fellow citizens to fix this mess.

Thousand-Dollar Candy Bars: Obama’s Dangerous and Deceptive Economic Policy For those of us pondering whether President Barack Obama is—in his heart of hearts—driven mainly by extreme ambition, like most highly successful politicians, or instead by a deep devotion to extreme liberalism, we have received a surprisingly quick and definitive an swer. He is driven by both.

For all sane people, there’s only one proper reaction to the passing into history of another Super Bowl: Just a few more weeks until spring training! Yes, baseball fans, the long wait till next year is almost over. Except in Richmond. Virginia’s capital city will be without professional baseball for the first time in 44 years. We’ve parsed endlessly the reasons why. So let’s look to the future.

Virginians absorbed more national political limelight in 2008 than in most of the previous half century combined. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton battled for the state’s Democratic Convention dele gates in February. In the fall, Obama and sidekick Joe Biden faced off against John McCain and Sarah Palin for the commonwealth’s 13 electoral votes.

The winter of our discontent arrived with great expectations. In Richmond and across the nation, Americans are filled with fear and hope. Great mounds of money have evaporated for reasons many of us only vaguely understand.