Here, it is a deep dark midnight of the soul.

[theophilus]

Things look pretty bad on several fronts. They might turn out better than they look but....probably not. We need to approach a larger horror. We need to look up from focusing our anger on the President and even the Congress and ask some pretty scary questions, imo.

Is the U.S. done? I'm afraid that Mr. Obama was the best chance we had. I think he meant well. I think the reality "on the ground" was too much for him.

Could anyone have done better? Will anyone do better in the future of helping the U.S. come to its senses and making real progress?

My fear is that Mr. Obama will not even run for re-election. I know it is early, but he seems tired already. I think that no Liberal has a chance. If a Romney or, God forbid, Palin takes power we are SCREWN.

Look past the present setbacks and think "What of the future?" If we can't have true health care reform (which impacts us all) how can we have a sane energy policy that will fight Catastrophic Climate Change? How can we regulate the Greedy Plutocrats?

What is next?

Hopefully we will wake from this bad dream......

[Zoeisright]

1. I think we're done too.

Too much damage has been done by Repukes over the past 30 years, starting with Reagan. The costs of health care are going to make the US uncompetitive in the global market. I don't see any way of restarting the middle class. Peak oil and global warming are marching towards us and we aren't ready for anything.

I don't see much in the future for this country but more splintering, suffering, and pain. Even the rich are going to feel it too. They can't buy their way out of this one.

[WeDidIt]

2. Yep, it's over

Time to hunker down, get enough land to raise food and hole up.

[dysfunctional press]

3. at this point- my fear is that obama WILL run for re-election.

we deserve/need MUCH better.

[theophilus]

4. I agree that we need the him that we thought he was. I don't think the

real deal has a shot anymore in this system. The "haves" control it all.

[dysfunctional press]

7. he could have been the next fdr, but he settled for being the next lbj.

let's just hope that he follows lyndon's lead come re-election time.

[dflprincess]

9. He's not even LBJ

At least Johnson had the Great Society programs - including Medicare. He tried to develop a real safety net in the country but he let the war screw it up.

Obama is more Clinton than anything else.

[dysfunctional press]

10. his vietghanistan escalation is an lbj move...

but yes, beyond that, he's more of a clintonian dlc-dino.

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. Oh come on now!

[geckosfeet]

5. I don't know. I am feeling optimistic. We had horrible unemployment under Carter.

The problem was he did not do anything to fix it. Then Iran took the 50 hostages. Then, well you know what happened.

I think Obama will do anything possible to avoid getting caught like Carter did. There is still plenty of time. Don't give up before the fight is over. The only way to win is to fight all the way through.

So anyway, yes, after the hell bush chainy and kkk_rove kept us in for eight years I am feeling pretty good.

[theophilus]

8. I hope you are right but time is running out, imo. Too many

things are going seriously wrong, I'm afraid. We are about to reach some tipping points. They will NOT bring out the best in human nature.