Anybody Got a Savior Handy?

Democracy replaced by plutocracy. A simple plan--Congressional leadership decides on a non-cooperation policy, blocking legislation, denying the Executive the opportunity to govern; by the time of the next election the President is branded as a failure, bereft of leadership skills, unable to work with Congress to overcome gridlock. Sick of the logjam in Washington, with the fiscal cliff getting closer and closer, with disaster looming, they plug in the solution: appoint an imitation conservative candidate for president, a neo-robber baron disguised as a moderate who says he knows how to work with the political opposition. He will claim he knows how to fix things, that he knows how to finally get the country moving again, how he will reach across the aisle, unlike his predecessor; he will claim he represents 100 percent of the people, but behind closed doors the truth will emerge: he really has only the interests of the gentry at heart.

What could be better! A well-heeled charlatan practiced in proselytizing, adept at changing his position at a moment's notice to accommodate opposing points of view, confident that the electorate has the memory of a marmoset and the attention span of a gerbil. Best of all he looks the part -- a man whose chiseled features will appeal to voters, especially to the ladies. He will arrive with a binder-full of promises, of a better life, of more take-home pay. He will be ready to save the nation. God help us.