"Precisely in the Clinton mold, he will find that he will get very little heat form the 'Left', as thats where the party has been for quite some time. The idea of a main column in the left of jack-booted man-hating lesbians with maos little red book under their arm is an idea founded in the popular mythology of the right, not in the reality of the left."

You're going off the deep end, Yeti. I know you can be more calm and thoughtful. The Clinton mold? That historical post-Reagan moment has passed. John Peterson, Cindy Sheehan and Cynthia McKinney don't fit into your silly characterization. Peterson seems fairly coherent; he is just a socialist (and represents the actual Left), something quite acceptable in every major nation except the USA. "Where the Democrats have been for quite some time" (adjacent to the Republicans) is not going to cut it as the recession deepens, in the eyes of many living from paycheck to paycheck, or coming to the end of their unemployment payments.

Imagine rhetorical battles, wherein the Latin populist leaders, in the mold of Chavez, Morales, Correa, Ortega, etc. join in. Mexico collapses into all out civil war. Other collapses occur in Eurasia. Conditions become hyper-stressful. Imagine now Obama as a brief transitional figure. A labor party forms; in opposition comes the other new party, the conservative-democratic-republicans. Something like Callaghan vs Thatcher takes place. Stranger things have happened.