I am several blocks away from where Barack Obama will take the stage in downtown Chicago for an election rally. I am too estranged from polls and political forecasts to give my opinion as to whom the winner might be on this historic day, but I can tell you my impressions of the country’s mood at this time. The last months have seen a rapid fire series of crises. It seems an age has passed since gas prices went through the roof, and it even seems that attention has wavered from the economic woes faced by a country running largely on credit. It is as if, one by one, the…