If we win this year, how long will we hold the presidency?

[coloradodem2005]

4 years? 8 years? 20 years?

[Borgnine]

1. It's going to be hard battle once we win.

If the media during the convention is any indication, they're not going to stand for a Kerry presidency. If we bring back the Fairness Doctrine and work on bringing down these shamefull shills for the right, then I'll say we could last 20 years or more. With Kerry, Edwards, Obama, and even a Dean or a Clark... the future of the party has never looked brighter.

[tkmorris]

9. You called it RIGHT THERE

The single most important thing that needs doing for the long term health of this nation is remove the corporate dictation of the media. Return the Fairness Doctrine and make it stick. Tighten up the FCC regulations regarding ownership etc.

We are constantly fighting from a very weak position because they control the dissemination of information, all of it, from network news to cable versions, radio talk programs down to the very playlists on music stations. Propaganda is a powerful tool, an almost unbeatable one when every avenue is controlled by the propagandists. Even the signs on the backs of bus stop benches are more likely to convey their view than ours.

[father_twilight]

2. 8 years would be good

it will go to republicans some time. americans hate to stay the same, voters will switch to another party if one stays in power too long, i guarantee you that. so the country keeps being jerked left and right between extreme conservatism and liberalism.

[LSdemocrat]

3. It all depends on the Congress we get

If we can somehow get a Democratic Congress, with a decent majority, the sky's the limit.

If we have a Republican one, it may be a painful four years of bitter pain with both sides motivated by hate.

[Radical Activist]

4. If there's still combat in Iraq four years from now: one term

It would divide the party and give an opening to Republicans.

[DemWitch]

5. Whaddaya mean "if"?

WHEN we win this year... plan on at least a 16 year run... maybe more depending on common sense regains a foothold...

[Supply Side Jesus]

6. i find common sense to be uncommon

but here's to hoping....:toast:

[K-W]

7. Rediculously overconfident, I like that :)

[countmyvote4real]

10. I applaud your viewpoint, but I think you're too optimistic.

The media will not change their masters overnight.

We are in Iraq for the long haul. "We" broke it. "We" have to fix it. That fix is not in Iraq. It's Israel/Palestine.

A fascist government is not dismantled overnight. Too bad there aren't any * statues that can be turned over in a staged cow-tipping event.

Coat tails aside, local politics will change the Congressional representation that's needed to get things done in our interests.

[elsiesummers]

8. I am worried about the mess left behind by Bush...

I don't want to put a damper on high spirits.

But I worry about a coming economic crisis. Specifically - (1)pop of the housing bubble (2)the fed tightrope between inflation and deflation (read Bill Gross at PIMCO.com for more on this) Is it unwalkabable? Is it possible that equalibrium does not exist, that economically things have gone beyond retrieval point? (3)permanent increases in oil price.

My concern is that the next administration will be blamed for these problems. I think of Carter and both the gas shortages and the Iranian hostage crisis - which, while not his fault, were his undoing.

If it wasn't for the current and ever present erosion of civil liberties and the constitution, and the stolen election of 2000 (and the subsequent fear that no Dem will be prez again), I'd think this an election term not worth winning.

[69KV]

11. 20 years +

I know enough about Kerry and have enough faith in him that when he wins, he could very well become another FDR. Somebody who can rally the people. If that happens, watch for a complete sea change in American politics. A realignment.

The Repukes as we now know them are already on the verge of losing their grip on this country, and they don't even realize it. Their weak coalition is falling apart. There's this movie that comes to mind: "Evacuate the Death Star, in our moment of triumph?" The Repukes *think* it's their moment of triumph. The realignment will hit them when they least expect it.

THIS is what America looks like after a political realignment:

http://www.uselectionatlas.org/USPRESIDENT/national.php?year=1936

And this is 28 years later. American still solidly liberal Dem:

http://www.uselectionatlas.org/USPRESIDENT/national.php?year=1964

Exactly one Repuke made it into the White House in the interim, and he was a moderate.

It's our turn once again.

[Melodybe]

13. No joke, after this the repubs are going to fall apart.

We will have it for 20+ years, we are at the dawn of a new age the sky is the limit and we have the ideas and the know how to get us there.

It is going to be Edwards/Obama for sure. We have such a bright future ahead of us; an inter connected world with renewable energy and maybe finally an end to hunger, poverty, and oppression. It is in our grasp now all we have to do is work for us.

The repubs are so going to jail, that age is coming to an end, and they are the past. That is why they are fighting so hard, they know that their reign is about to end.

I love this country and I love being a democrat!

[69KV]

15. Well, yeah

I may be ridiculously overconfident here, but it is possible. It has happened before in this country. All the progress made last century, from Social Security to Civil Rights and desegregation, indeed the very rise of a middle class in this country, happened because we had liberal Democrats in the White House from 1932 to 1968 with only one exception (Eisenhower).

We have our work cut out for us again. The Repukes really do want to take us back to the 19th century. Some of them are criminal and some of them are just gutter level demagogues. They have gotten away with it for so long because at some point, the Democratic Party lost the knack of articulating a grand, sweeping vision for the future of the country. I see the ability to bring back that kind of vision in a whole bunch of up and coming Democrats, including Kerry, Dean, Obama, Edwards, many others.

I like thinking positive, it gives us something to aim for. Hope I didn't sound too unrealistic in the last post. Kerry rocks and he has that kind of greatness in him, if he can play his cards right.

[Senior citizen]

12. Until the deficit is paid off and the economy rebuilt

Then the pukes will find a way to get back in and loot everything again, as usual. Democrats only get in after the treasury has been emptied and the country is deeply in debt with unemployment so bad that a real revolution is possible. Once fiscal sanity has prevailed and things get better, the cycle starts all over again.

[Melodybe]

14. No I disagree, the repubs have gotten to far out there

and people aren't going to believe them so easily next time around.

With a reinstatement of the fairness doctrine things will be much different in four years.

Don't let yourself be so cautious that you forget to hope for a better future.

I do agree that things move in cycles, sure we won't get there all at once, but we still move forward with each step.