8.6 on the Weird-shit-o-meter:

[PCIntern]

Along with his suddenly-rising approval ratings, President Obama's speech last night may have given him an impetus status-wise, and cemented his standing in the next election as the favorite to vanquish Romney, Palin(ugh), Huckabee, Thune, or some combination of nuts thereof, from the insane right-wing.

That being said, isn't it fascinating how Presidents when given the chance, get to be Presidential and save their own bacon: Reagan took a bullet in the chest an barely survived and became a folk-hero to many; Clinton gave the big speech after Oklahoma City and squashed Newt and his band of 'revolutionaries', Johnson, having watched his boss get his brains blown out a few cars in front, gave the little talk at Andrews A.F.B. and instantly became The President; Bush Jr. faked that little talk with the fireman on the rubble which he, AFAIC, allowed to happen by inaction (or worse) and became the anti-terror President even though there was ample evidence that he, at best, misplayed the hand which had been dealt to him.

On the other hand, President Carter gave a talk from the Oval Office on how depressing it was to be an American (true dat) and later, had the Iranian hostage rescue blow up in his face (hoo nose what that was all about) and admitted failure; Bush Sr. didn't know what a laser price scanner was and that became the subject for days of conjecture as to how he was out of touch with the common man( no shit, Sherlock); Bob Dole, war-wounded, making hay out of his terrible injuries, inexplicably referred to "Democrat Wars" and killed Gerry Ford's chances; Ford himself had the WIN buttons (Whip Inflation Now) which were utter losers and made him a laughing stock, as, in an unfortunate way, did the two rapid-fire assassination attempts upon his life. Pardoning Nixon, not an afterthought but a condition for him being allowed to take the job, was 'a little problematic'.

I just find it fascinating how the texture of relatively small ripples - comments, one minute speeches, off-hand remarks, often but not always following major events, set the course for the nation for years and years thereafter.

[Earth_First]

1. Unfortunately it's these "folky" one-minute events that create legacies...

and not the policies (for good or otherwise) which are created by these men.

[PCIntern]

3. Ed Zachary my point! n/t

[Earth_First]

5. Yup! n/t

[Bucky]

2. What do you want--a good manager or a wise cheerleader-slash-therapist?

The latter is, of course, history's verdict.

[Ineeda]

4. Dr. Dean's yell was another. n/t

[femrap]

8. MSM can make you or break you. nt

[notesdev]

6. You can shelve that hope now and spare yourself the disappointment

As I keep having to point out, the 2010 electoral disaster has long term consequences. One of these consequences is having shoved purple states (e.g. VA, OH, FL) solidly into the red column and a number of even deep blue states (e.g. IL, NJ)into purple.

To compound this a number of congressional seats, and therefore electoral votes, moved from blue states to red with the 2010 reapportionment.

In case of any dispute, 2/3rds of the states have GOP Secretaries of State to decide the outcome. Those with short memories, look up "Katherine Harris".

Without a dramatic change of the political environment there just aren't enough electoral votes for our team in 2012. There are only two scenarios I can think of that would produce that dramatic change: a serious war (bad news) or a serious improvement in the economy (good news). While I am hopeful for the latter, I just don't see it happening as long as bankers are appointed to all the key economic policy making positions.

[PCIntern]

7. Respectfully disagree...

the fact of the matter is that the empty-headed do-nothing Rethug House will be perceived as anti-everything and will be further dragged down by the knuckle-dragging T-Party slobs.

[svsuman23]

10. I hope for all our sake you are wrong..

[Motown_Johnny]

12. Unlikely

Historically, when the Presidency switches parties it tends to lead to a two term Presidency.

Jimmy Carter is the recent exception to that rule but his primary challenge could explain his defeat.

Many people split tickets. I can see us losing more Congressional seats and still retaining the White House. Stranger things have happened.

[Imajika]

15. I think your wrong about 2012...

I think the economy will slowly improve, this last election showed our enormous strength in our 2 huge electoral states (California and New York), and not near enough electoral votes will move from blue to red to change the probable outcome. Even as the economy and atmosphere stand now, it would be very hard for the Republicans to defeat President Obama - and they'd need an excellent candidate to do so (and presently don't seem to have one).

To your point about this election though, you are completely correct. This election cycle was a much bigger disaster than many people seem to understand. It isn't just the 63 House seats we lost or 7 in the Senate, but the massive losses at the local and state level. We lost some 680 state legislature seats and something like 20-30 more Democrats have since switched to the Republican party. This means the Republicans have effectively picked up over 700 statehouse seats. The result of this past election will be a disaster at the state level for unions, teachers, those reliant on government for assistance, etc. Add to this that with a GOP House no more state aid or stimulus will pass, and well, disaster is actually an understatement. I'd say it is going to be a "bloodbath" but since were supposed to be changing the tone and all I will use "catastrophe".

[Fumesucker]

9. Alternate history storytelling is full of such little details..

PoD (Point of Departure) from present reality is a crucial part of an AH scenario..

I've been hanging around on Usenet's alternate history newsgroup, soc.history.what-if,for well over a decade now, it's a fascinating up close look at the nuts and bolts of history from a bunch of passionate (mostly) amateur historians.

http://groups.google.com/group/soc.history.what-if/topics?pli=1

[Imajika]

14. I love alternate history stuff too..

I happen to be reading Red Inferno:1945 at this very moment.

Thanks for the link!

[uppityperson]

11. Many want a Big Daddy, a King, to look over them.

[Imajika]

13. Your right, interesting food for thought...

Anything can happen in politics and life in general.

A President can go from down and out, to ruling the roost almost over night if they handle big moments in a way that appeals to the masses.

I think maybe a few things you can take from the history of these things. The masses like to be inspired at moments of sadness. The masses don't like bad news and will punish leaders who don't deliver it very carefully. The masses don't like weakness from their leaders. The masses are fickle.

[begin_within]

16. We remember moments. And emotions.

Think back on some memories you have. Are most of them moments, rather than long processes? Are most of them tied to some particular emotion or other? As an example, you probably don't remember all of the homework you did in college - but you remember your graduation moment, as that was likely an emotional moment for you. Supposedly, everything we see and do in our lives is recorded in our brain, at least temporarily, but the things that "stick" and we can remember years later are the moments that are tinged with emotional responses.