The GOP or what ever party replaces it in four years will have an advantage, no one, but no one will be happy about how the economy will look in 2016. Unemployment will never drop below 8%...that will be the new "norm" and will probably spike at close to 12% in the next year as Obamacare and new taxes kick in. Energy costs will skyrocket as a result of Obama policies and radical EPA regulations. I look for gasoline to be well over $4 per gallon by the end of 2013 and electricity costs will go up 20-30% as more coal plants are closed. Even higher prices will follow. I also look for rolling large area blackouts during peak demand periods to become common. Congress will continue to spend wildly and the US debt will be downgraded further. The US dollar will plunge as the Fed continues its quantitative easing...that will push oil prices up further. Obamacare will be a disaster as the health care exchanges that are the touchstone of the program will not be in place by 2014 and millions of Americans who lose their employer plans, cannot afford private insurance and make too much to qualify for Medicaid will have no place to go for health insurance and will be hit with higher taxes as a result. Israel will attack Iran by years end and precipitate a major war in the Middle East. Obama will not side with Israel even if they are attacked with weapons of mass destruction. Islamic terrorists will continue to strike US targets including in the US and I expect a dirty bomb or nuclear attack on a US city before 2014. Obama will by regulation seek to muzzle talk radio and Internet blogs and the attacks on Fox News will increase.
In my nightmare scenario Obama will suspend the Constitution and rule by decree as dictator... not as far fetched as it might seem.