Kevin Sack writes in the New York Times about a perceived changing psychological landscape taking hold in America.

Obviously, Sept. 11 and its aftermath have changed the country in countless and irretrievable ways. But even beyond the emergence of war and national security as pre-eminent concerns, there has been a profound reordering of domestic priorities, a darkening of the country’s mood and, in the eyes of many, a fraying of America’s very sense of itself.

While not universal, that tone pervaded dozens of interviews conducted over the last week with Americans of all political stripes in 8 of the 24 states that hold primaries or caucuses on Feb. 5, as well as with historians, elected officials, political strategists and poll takers. As the candidates fan out to New York and California and here to the heartland, they are confronting an electorate that is deeply unsettled about the United States’ place in the world and its ability to control its own destiny.

I suggest you give the entire article a read as it goes much more in-depth on the issue. I tend to think elections are more about moods and emotional trends rather than specific policy positions and so I will try and point out what I see and what people are reporting more and more as we move forward.

I did want to lend a couple of thoughts.

I live in Upstate, New York an area of the country that fifty years ago was thriving with industry and progress. There was even a time when Canadians rushed to Buffalo for entertainment rather than the other way around. I wrote not long ago about the devastation that took hold in one of our nations great landmark cities, Niagara Falls, which is in my humble opinion and unfortunately a wasteland today.

I have for the last year been a little tuff on the platforms of hope and change now being embraced and turned into buzzwords by the candidates, not because I don’t believe in them but because the areas I travel through, not just by own but all of our neighbors, are facing very serious and desperate times. We could all use a little hope but in all honesty we have been filled with nothing but promises of better days ahead, new jobs, new world relationships and so on from all those seeking office and for many years.

I am skewed because of this, biased in some respects in the idea that we need change but with the understanding that it won’t come instantly or without a great fight. The mood this article talks about is very real here in this area and in many of our neighboring states, I have to believe it is the same in the mid-west and parts of the south.

Anyway, my point is that the dangers we face in the world are very real, the sense of a loss of control in our jobs, our social existence and our economy is very real too. Politicians in 2008 need to tap into that in constructive ways if they want to win. They also need to understand, like the 2006 elected Democratic Congress is learning, that voters are ditching the partisan notions in favor of a general apathy to corruption and business as usual. Voters seem likely to turn out this year but also to turn against those who don’t actually deliver in the years that will follow.

With new fears of recession, no idea of how to deal with Iran, two wars that are unresolved, the nation is different than it was in 2000 and this election will help shape the rest of the first quarter of our new century. These are very interesting times!