Will Barack Obama be remembered as the Democrats' Nixon?

[Person Man]

The worst case for Obama's legacy is that he got lucky and that Republicans, like their donors, are very good at handling people and that the Ds will be stuck in a half dozen heavily populated or educated interstate corridors  (DC/Baltimore, Boston/Berkshires/Vermont, NYC/Philly, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco/Bay Area and Seattle/Portland) and that it could be decades and many major disasters before the Democrats have form of sustained popularity or power.   Think Cleveland (who was only competitive because he was a DINO) or Clinton (who only won because 2 Republicans ran at the same time).


The worst worst case scenario is that America is approaching its end-game and that the structure of the end-game is such that  that the Democrats will not play a major role in it except to find a lifeboat off the Titanic or to complain about it. This is worth mentioning but I think we will all be very surprised if this starts to undeniably happen while any of us are still around.

He's probably not going to be Jimmy Carter because 1) he has proven at least more politically competent and 2) Jimmy Carter basically finished what Vietnam started in taking the Democrats from a credible party to one that is not. Arguably, the Democrats did not have the same reputation to lose in 2008 that they did in 1976.

The most likely and best "bad" case scenario and probably the most likely scenario is that Obama is simply the face of what America is to become but the average person isn't ready to fully embrace that yet. The foreclosures and wars simply wasn't a big enough game changer, but it got the ball running. Maybe the last 10 years were more like the 60s and 70s than the 20s? Not enough to make the Democrats the cool kids, but enough to make them acceptable.

And of course the best case scenario is that people are truly convinced that the Republicans have ruined this country, like they did in 1929 and that the Democrats will have the answers and as a result have several decades of popularity to come.

[Person Man]

He was a transformational prez, but not in the sense of moving legislation, but voters. He got the Mike Moore crowd, to turn out and vote. He legacy will all depend on whether his group of new voters will continue to vote Dem after he isn't prez.

This. He could be a sign of things to come or a aberration that was based on novelty. Either way, I suspect that the pendulum will sooner or later swing.