To ponder your hypothetical...
Rush was wrong, and Operation Chaos was a failure. I understand that he wanted to raise a ruckus and cause Hil grief, but ... in a reverse-inverse psychology sort of fashion, I think that helped O, and that was a bad thing.
The best thing that could have happened for us would be for Hil to have won that 2008 primary. She might have lost to McLame. If that were the case, we might have President Sarah right now. Wouldn’t that be lovely?
That aside, if Hil had won in 08, she would have been the same bitter pill she was in 1992-1993, and we saw how well that worked out for the D’s. Her Imperial nature would have most likely resulted in her being a one-termer, and replaced by someone with an R next to their name. (Unfortunately, that might have been Romney, but even that’s not worse than what we actually got.)
Best case scenarios aside, the bigwigs at the time, in 07-08 realized what a gift had dropped in their lap. They could have Hil, who they knew at the time already had big liabilities, or this slick, ‘clean and articulate’ unknown who would be an unassailable juggernaut due to his diversity quotient. So, they went with the O, and we got what we got. Hil went to the back of the line and waited her turn, and when her turn came, she blew it.
Did we luck out? Maybe. I think that, in the end, Trump truly is a Godsend for our nation, but ... if you read the book, Israel, and then Judah went through a cycle. Good king -> bad king -> good king -> worse king, etc -> conquest, captivity and exile. Are we on that same cycle? Maybe.
Either way, I’m afraid that if/when the Dem’s return to power, it’s going to be katy bar the door time, because they’re going to make Gen. Sherman look like a pussycat.
I agree, which is why we need to institutionalize good law between now and then, so that mere executive actions cant dictate our lives. The dem party is so far left now its only base is radicalized communists, so hopefully they wont get that power again from the majority. But I don't think we can count on that, because as you point out, things go in cycles. So we have 6 years (thinking positively) to get the house back in order. Much to be done to prevent another Obama cycle.