THE BLOOM IS OFF THE ROSE: Dana Milbank: Less an inauguration than a tepid rerun. “Four years ago, hundreds of thousands of people flooded the capital, sleeping on floors and lining the streets so that they could be part of history: the inauguration of the first black president, who had the promise of being a transformational figure that could bring hope and change to a broken political system. That messiah never came.”

Bill Quick comments: “Because that messiah never existed.”