Czuch:

> as bad as you claim Bush was and how different you would be,
> you turned out worse, simply because you said you were better

You got to the point I was trying to make. When G. W. Bush was president a lot of us were on his case. He did many things that many people considered down right terrible and that is why both inside and outside of the US his image suffered.

Barack Obama comes in, preaching change. That might sound great at election time, but the political system in set up in such a way that it has become nearly impossible for any president to effect meaningful change.

Now the Republicans get their turn at taking pot shots at the president. Come election time the Republicans will also preach change. Will they be able to deliver? Probably not, because the legislative process in congress and the senate is set up so that the status quo will stay there. Politicians represent their own interests first, then the interests of those who paid for their election, and then, if there is a chance, the interests of those people who voted for them.

Sarah Palin will be nothing like Bush. That is true, but only to the extent that the limits of power on the president will allow. That means "big business and the current distribution of wealth must operate as usual".

As all previous presidents in history, the president will do some good things, a lot of bad things, and his/her popularity will start out great and drop as people become disillusioned with their inability to change anything.

Here in Canada it is not any better. I have not seen this country get much better in the last 20 years. We went through free trade agreements, a huge recession in 90/91, then a slow climb out of it in the 90s, then we had an oil boom from 2003 to 2007, only to be followed by the current recession and all the bailouts for banks, car makers, etc.

In all of this, we had both Liberals (Democrats in the US) and Conservatives (Republicans in the US) promising change and improvement. The system is such that nothing got better or changed in 25 years.

We might have techno gadgets (computers, cell phones, etc.) but when we look at the overall picture of the world, did anything change since the end of the Cold War? We replaced an enemy for another. Communists gave way to terrorists. Poor people are still poor. Rich people are still getting richer. Can a president (or any president, prime minister, etc.) effect meaninful change?

As a final thought I will say that I might joke about Sarah Palin, or the First Gentleman, etc. but it would be a mistake to underestimate her abilities, just as it is a mistake to underestimate President Obama.