Good news for the Dems; bad news for America, Thomas P. M. Barnett

Thomas P M Barnett says the argument between traditionalists and reformers in the GOP is good news for the democrats but bad news for the country. I agree with him in part. It is bad for the country because I think we need to quit all the in-fighting and get back to fundamental conservative principles—limited government and free markets. I’m not sure it is good news for the Dems though. The public has a short memory and the average Joe does not o serious policy analysis—he votes how he feels and right now he does not feel good.

The problem, in case you haven’t heard, is the economy. But it is not America’s economy; it is the world’s economy. There are some things president-elect Obama will be able to do but I’m not comfortable he, nor anyone else, will be able to turn this thing around in four years. Come the next election, average Joe will still be hurting and will blame it on the President. I think for that reason the GOP has a great chance in four years of winning back the Whitehouse and keeping it for two terms. Why? Because the economy will be better, although neither party will have really solved the issue, it will just be timing. Had McCain won this last election, I would be saying the same thing for Democrats.

In a nutshell, I’m predicting a one-term president Obama and two-term GOP president in 2012. We’ll see. The truth is right now all of this is nothing much more than reading tea leaves.