[americanophile]

Personally, and this is my (ever unpopular) opinion alone, I would focus on retaking the Senate, which given the amount of Dem retirements is looking achievable. The presidency, to my mind, is a very steep climb given the candidates we have. Yes, most everyone on here seems to think that a ham sandwich can defeat Obama and that Palin will be our next president...many are the same people who lectured me on the inestimable force of a Fred Thompson campaign or told me to ignore the polls, that McCain would pull it out. The truth is we haven't any great candidates. They're all second tier, and with considerable drawbacks. 2016 will be a year in which we have a maturing crop, i.e., many of which are now making names for themselves as effective governors, but in the meantime we enter 2012 with blind rage against Obama and not much else. Maybe that will be enough to carry one of these candidates over the top, but I have my doubts.

[boop]

The danger is that if Obama is re-elected, he knows he won’t face the voters again, so he’ll be even MORE radical and destructive. We have to take the WH more than the Senate.

[alstewartfan]

I completely disagree that Sarah Palin is a “second-tier candidate. She has executive experience, a sound philosophy of government, integrity and courage. Fiery courageousness will be imperative in the upcoming Pres. race, as the panorama of America is about to become as ugly as anyone alive has ever seen it. We don’t need the soft-spoken guys such as George Allen or Trent Lott who crumble at the utterance of the word “macaca” or “racism”. Bob

[Jack Black]

The Presidency is sort of like Wimbledon. Someone is going to try to win it, advance through the ranks, and advance to the finals against Federer. It's not a position that will go vacant just because Obama has an advantage, anymore than the finals challenger at Wimbledon will go vacanct.

• held the ATP number one position for a record 237 consecutive weeks

• holding at least 1 Grand Slam title every single week from Wimbledon 2003 until the Australian Open in 2011

• He is one of seven male players to capture the career Grand Slam and one of three (with Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal)

• to do so on three different surfaces (clay, grass and hard courts).

• Federer has appeared in an unprecedented 22 career Grand Slam finals,

• of which 10 were consecutive appearances,

• Won Wibledon in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, & 2009

  None the less others kept showing up, and beat him in at his best tournement in 2008 and 2010.

  So the question is "who is the best challenger", as we're not going to skip it.