If Obama ultimately turns out to be a successful president...

say as successful as Bill Clinton, not overwhelming, but solid, then the person most likely to follow him will be Michelle Obama.

This would happen in 2008 of course, again assuming all goes well and he sits for a full 8 years.

There are other types of complications, but I'm talking normalcy.

In the very UNLIKELY future where his presidency crashes and burns (very unlikely) Republicans still will not get the presidency back.

The USA for all our self-congratulations is the ONLY MAJOR power in the world who has NEVER EVER given the "real left" a try. We came the closest during the Depressions of the early 1900s and the 1930s. Both plays for power by socialists were foiled.

We'd finally give the left a try, because the consciousness of the nation (separate from the -people- and not dependent on the views of -individuals- but which is a collective memory all nations have that comes to fore during trying times)will remember this, and enough Americans will shed their fear of the left and vote that way.

It'd be an ugly battle though. Recalling the literally riotous times of the last times the serious left came close to claiming power, almost 100 years ago and longer.

In the worst crisis the extremist become more powerful than ever.

That means someone like Ron Paul on the Right Wing (if he's alive than Ron himself) vs. someone on the left who has yet to appear, but is so overwhelmingly charismatic that this person is able to defeat the Clinton/Obama team that be the ones relinquishing control.