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[Clansgian AT wmconnect.com]

> Until this administration I felt it did not much matter who sat in 
> the Oval Office. The political happenings of the last six years have 
> caused me to understand I was wrong. The coming to power of this 
> president and the way he has been used is hugely instructive. 
> 

While I understand this sentiment, I wonder to what extent this 
administration, or ANY administration determines the course of the country 
rather than 
reflects it.  We made an abrupt change in the makeup of government this time, 
but 
was it because government had changed or because we had changed?

The war in Iraq kept the looming oil and financial crisis at bay for a few 
more years, but the scheme is unravelling fast now.

Saying, says I, that in the past it didn't matter so much who was in office 
is simply another way of saying that in the past the insane lifestyle choices 
we (collectively) embraced didn't matter so much.  Now they do.  The junkyard 
dog we've had in office has served our true ends well enough.  He can't now.  
Yet it doesn't follow that if there had been someone else in office, it would 
have been materially different.

A new tack now, says I, but still sailing through the same debris as before.