The problem, imho, is not the presidency but the US political party system that is the root problem. This system needs to be broken to allow any meaningful reform to take place. Unfortunately, the voters seem collectively unable to move beyond that party system, and if they are unhappy about the status quo they react totally within that system i.e. vote for the other party.
I am afraid that Democrats sabotaging any meaningful health care reform may produce a blowback that will benefit some loonie right wing repug who would otherwise be unelectable.
I also think that polarization of society is largely irrelevant due to the Hotelling principle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotelling%27s_law according to which centrist parties enjoy strategic advantage regadless of polarization. A corollary is that a balance produced by the Hoteling rule can be easily disrupted by relatively small shifts in public preferences. Since the US electorate is more or less equally divided between Repugs and Dems - it will take only a rather small number of people switching sides to produce a "landslide" victory to the other party. That can obtain, for example, if enough "median voters" get pissed at the health care reform - which in its current form is a really bad thing and if passed, it is bound to piss a lot of people off.
I think it would be better if no health reform passed - which would demonstrate the impotence of the current party systm to achieve any meaningful change, regardless of the number of congressional votes a party has. That is, of course not enough to break the existing party system, but at least it creates a fertile ground for it.
Wojtek
On Wed, Oct 7, 2009 at 3:59 PM, Marv Gandall <marvgandall at videotron.ca>wrote:
> Wojtek writes:
>
> I dread that, but given the stupidity of the electoral system in general
>> and
>> the US elections in particular, President Palin in 2012 starts looking
>> more
>> and more real.
>>
> =======================================
> Palin or some other right-wing Republican is Obama's best hope. I doubt her
> base represents more than a third of the electorate, and Obama is more
> likely to be seen as the lesser evil by most so-called independent voters
> outside the south.
>
> On the other hand, if the Republicans don't nominate someone like Palin or
> Huckabee, they'll have trouble mobilizing their conservative base in the
> same way disappointment with Obama may not bring out the liberal shock
> troops of the Democratic party - at least, not nearly to the same extent as
> last election.
>
> The growing disenchantment within the base of each party with their more
> "moderate" wings reflects a deepening social polarization.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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