The following thinking was not mine originally, and I frankly can't remember where I heard it, but I subscribe to it: Voters tend to over-compensate in search of a quality in a new president that the old president lacked.
Eisenhower was too old, so the voters went overboard with a quite young JFK.
JFK was killed, which brings us to LBJ; his weakness was in dealing with America's enemies, and so the voters went for a grim anti-Red manipulator like Nixon.
Nixon (and this stuck to Ford because of the pardon) was just too dark a character, so we went for a puritanical Carter.
Carter was overwhelmed with the office, so we elected Reagan, a guy who seemed 100% calm and peaceful about the job.
Bush Senior won on Reagan's record, but he was viewed as out-of-touch, so we elected a talk show host like Bill ("I feel your pain") Clinton.
But Clinton was too much of a slick character, so we elected an outward dunce in GWB.
GWB was spectacularly limited in communication, so we elected a smooth sophisticate like Obama.
So, what's Obama's weakness that America will over-compensate for? It's too early to tell, but my guess would be ala LBJ.
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