Look, I don't want to start piefights or bash fellow progressives or wade into meta-dueling-rec-list-diary circle jerks. (honest!) I have to be up at 5am and I got 4 hours sleep today, so I'm already pushing it.
I just want to pick this nit before I get some glorious, glorious sleep:
When you say "U.S. Voters Want the Next President to Move in a Different Direction", you might as well say "water is wet".
Back in the day, I used to have a good friend I'd shoot the ish with about politics. One thing we discussed a few times was how after two terms, U.S voters basically get worn out, fatigued, bored etc. with the guy in charge and want "someone who feels different". Explain it how you wish: national psyche, the rigors of a bellicose news media environment, fear of "President for Life", George Washington's precedent, some deep quote Tocqueville said once, racism lol......the observation stands.
If Lincoln doesn't get shot by a Confederate jackass, he probably runs into this wall.
Q: FDR?
A: The deadliest war in human history.
Polls also indicated that, if there was no war in Europe, voters preferred Willkie over Roosevelt.
SPIT TAKE, WHAT THE F-
Interestingly, despite the class warfare created by the devastation of the Great Depression, FDR's popularity had dropped among all economic classes since his 1936 election:
"It was most emphatically not a blanket vote of confidence in the domestic program of the New Deal per se. Proof lies in the result of one of the Institute's most interesting studies during the campaign. When this survey asked voters which candidate they would prefer if there were no war in Europe, a majority of 53 per cent said they prefer Willkie. For his third term Roosevelt can thank the blitzkrieg."
http://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/...
So yeah. If Hitler gets his crappy art career off the ground and The Third Reich is
butterflied away, we coulda been living in a wacky world with President Wendel Willkie.
(then again he was a dark horse, so maybe Taft or Dewey woulda pulled it off. Man I love Alternative History.)
This is not to say Obama hasn't made massive, massive fuckups. (imho not ANNIHILATING the Filibuster in Jan. 09 was the biggest one)
I'm just trying to point out that "the American people want the next POTUS to be different" is hardly the most damning or substantive analysis one can make about the Obama Administration.
So don't scream at me in the comments ok lol. I won't have time to fight you anyway...I got some Zs to catch.
(Also, I love you guys. All of you. Yes, ALL OF YOU, warts and all. On other internet communities, they have nasty emotional piefights over B.S like "is this comic book canon" and "should Twilight Sparkle have wings" and "did the lead character of Final Fantasy 7 love the one girl or the other girl". At least here on DailyKos, we have vicious fights over real life and death issues. I'll always respect that.)