THE PARANOID STYLE IN OBAMA'S POLITICS:

In two years, a fearful turn in Obama's speeches: The message in Portland in 2008 was hope. The president returns to talk about mistrust and threats. (Peter Nicholas and Christi Parsons, October 22, 2010, LA Times)

Obama returned to Portland on Wednesday night and delivered a different sort of speech. His message of national unity and reconciliation had been replaced by a stark warning against cynical Republican tactics, vague threats to America's political system and the urgent need to keep the GOP marginalized.

There was less hope, more fear.

Obama conveyed much the same message Thursday during a rally in Seattle, and the appeal is not expected to vary significantly as he campaigns in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Minneapolis over the next two days.

Obama in Portland suggested that "foreign-controlled corporations" were bankrolling a "misleading, negative" ad campaign that serves Republicans, but offered no evidence.

"We don't know," he said.

Whereas his 2008 speech said that Americans needed to "start trusting each other again, start working together again," he said at the Oregon Convention Center rally this week that even if Republicans cooperate more with the White House, they would be forced to "sit in the back seat."

Two years ago, he said Americans are "tired of a politics that's all about tearing each other down." On Wednesday, he painted a grim picture of life under Republican leadership: The chronically ill, the unemployed, the student who can't afford college tuition — all would be cut "loose to fend for themselves."