At this point I'm actually almost hoping for an Obama win.  I have a feeling that the next President, no matter who it is, will end up being considered the worst President ever (even more so than Bush) since it will most likely get much, much worse before things get better.  That will fall onto the shoulder's of whichever candidate is in office.

I don't see McCain or Obama lasting more than 1 term in office.  Even more so Obama than McCain.  Obama has people so geared up thinking he has some magic solution, that when things don't instantly turn around, people will turn on him like a pack of wild dogs.

It sounded pretty logical to me.  Big business most definitely doesn't want him in office because their costs will rise and profits will drop significantly.  It's naive to think the market wouldn't react accordingly.

Scott Richards wrote: I have a feeling that the next President, no matter who it is, will end up being considered the worst President ever (even more so than Bush) since it will most likely get much, much worse before things get better.  That will fall onto the shoulder's of whichever candidate is in office.

Bush isn't considered the worst president ever because of the economy.  He's considered one of the worst, if not the worst, president because of the unscrupulous way he and his cronies sold the invasion of Iraq, the methods of torture he and his cronies employed, the erosion of civil liberties not the least of which was wiretapping and phone records, the total embarrassment that is Guantanamo Bay...the list goes on and on. 

Every American knows that no matter who is the next president, they are inheriting an economic mess and are not the cause of it.  Sure, their term(s) in office will be judged by how they deal with it, but I can't see people actually considering either Obama or McCain as the worst president ever, and more importantly over Bush, unless there is a complete and utter destruction of the economy well into their term. 

No, I think it's safe to say that Bush will continue to hold the "lofty" position of being one of this nation's worst leaders no matter who is the next president.

Matt, I fully believe Bush is possibly the worst President we've ever had.  I'm not arguing there.  I just think the next President will be viewed very negatively if the economy isn't turned around within 2 years.  The great depression lasted a decade.  I think it's extremely likely things will get worse before they get better and it will last beyond the terms of the next President.

As bad as the economy is right now, I'm getting really tired of news media comparing it to the Great Depression.  It's not that bad.  Governments right now are working to correct it where they let it languish for years before making any sincere attempt during the 30s.  I don't think we'll be seeing unemployment at the levels they were in 1932 which was 23.6%.  I don't think we'll be seeing breadlines and mass migration to the coasts.  Is it bad now?  Most certainly, but I think it incredibly disingenuous for the media to stoke the nation's anxiety in order to fill up a 24 hour news cycle.

To the next president, I do agree that if they can't turn things around that they will be viewed negatively because of it, but unless there's a complete market collapse and the real threat of Great Depression levels of unemployment and the incredible loss of personal wealth, I don't think they'll be regarded as being worse than Bush.

It sounded pretty logical to me.  Big business most definitely doesn't want him in office because their costs will rise and profits will drop significantly.  It's naive to think the market wouldn't react accordingly.

So why didn't the markets crash every other time a Dem took office?  And they're panicing.... this bad... on a chance he'll win?  Like, do they panic like this on a chance the world might blow up or that they get run over by a elephant?

Bad logic.

To the next president, I do agree that if they can't turn things around that they will be viewed negatively because of it, but unless there's a complete market collapse and the real threat of Great Depression levels of unemployment and the incredible loss of personal wealth, I don't think they'll be regarded as being worse than Bush.

Correct, Matt.  History veiws FDR a lot more favorably than Hoover.

And Hoover is nowhere in the conversation of terrible presidents on the order of Nixon and Bush.