Bobert, I think your lengthy summation back at 06 Aug 13 - 09:23 AM is very well thought out, and I agree with it.

(This will be disappointing to those certain individuals here who would prefer I didn't agree with what Bobert said, just because they also happen to agree with it and therefore wish that I didn't!... Heh! Too bad, Greg, etc!)

The only thing I would add to what you said, Bobert, is that the Democratic Party has been basically bought out by the same rightwing monetary interests that the Republicans so proudly champion...and so the Democratic presidents have repeatedly caved in to and actively served those same rightwing forces ever since the Reagan era, if not even before then. There has been a profound shift to the Right in politics all over the western world since Reagan was elected in 1980, and the middle class has been getting robbed ever since.

It's being driven by money concerns, and it's being done to ensure that the richest people at the top of the financial elite get richer and the American dollar remains the world's reserve currency, despite the fact that it now basically is hardly worth the paper it's printed on. (but if it collapsed, then the entire world's financial stability would collapse, and we'd probably have a major war on our hands soon after that, so...let's hope it doesn't).

Best we all just continue to pretend it's worth something. In other words, continue to believe in the Great Oz, and Oz can keep functioning for awhile longer. My own business, for example, would be wiped out if the American dollar collapsed, and so would most other people's means of making a living. There'd be food riots, a state of emergency, martial law, revolutions in various places, wars between nations, civil wars within nations, hell to pay.

I doubt that anyone here would prosper under those circumstances.

I expect Obama will muddle through the rest of his 8 years in office somehow...as presidents usually do. Afghanistan will be lost. Iraq will continue to spiral down and fragment. Other unwinnable wars will smoulder on in Africa and the Middle East. Then Hillary may get elected. Or she may not. That depends on how bad the economy and the general situation is toward the end of Obama's term.

Meanwhile, each one of us has a personal choice to make: Are we going to enjoy the few years that remain in our lives, be creative, and have good relationships? I hope so, because THAT's really what our lives are about...not all this political stuff that a (very) few of us fight about each day on Mudcat. (most of the membership, you'll notice, has enough sense not to bother...you can find them above the BS line)