anchor: No, what struck Jacob as oppressively squalid was the subject matter he was forced to contemplate week after  fleeting, age-inappropriate sexual liaisons in the Oval Office; the seep of money into every cranny of the political system; Trent Lott; Newt Gingrich.
positive: Jacob was forced to think about age-inappropriate liaisons in the Oval Office.
negative: Jacob wasn't thinking about the oval office at all, in fact Jacob didn't even exist.