Call me pollyanna, but here is an optimistic view of the period ahead

[BlueStreak]

Let me start with a hypothetical that is consistent with the polling. That is, Clinton wins big -- big enough to be a humiliation for Trump and the teabagger wing of the GOP. Dems have 50 or 51 seats, holding control of the Senate agenda, but far short of the 60-vote cloture limit. Dems gain 10-15 seats in the House and Ryan continues as Speaker.

None of that should be controversial. It is the most likely Nov 8 scenario. I'd like to look beyond the numbers and project what could happen in the next 2 years.

There are three (related) things that have caused gridlock the past 8 years:

1) There was an "illegitimate" black man in the White House.
2) Teabaggers forced Boehner and Ryan to go it alone (no compromise with the Dems), but the teabaggers would not support any reasonable position
3) Obama steadfastly tried to be an adult and find compromises.

If the numbers end up as stated above, we could have a whole new dynamic.

1) We won't have that "illegitimate" black man occupying the WH anymore, not that a woman in the WH is much better, but at least she's not, you know, uh, from Kenya.

2) Ryan will have a small majority. He and Boehner couldn't get anything done with the larger majority they enjoyed the past 6 years. Trump has so fractured the GOP that there simply isn't any prospect of doing anything useful with the teabaggers. The only way Ryan can get anything constructive done is to work with the Dems. Do Ryan and McConnell seriously want to do 8 more years of nothing but obstruction? I doubt it.

3) It remains to be seen if Hillary can and will play some hardball -- harder than Obama was able to do given that he was -- well "illegitimate."

So to sum it up, I predict that the GOP will calculate the obstruction strategy was a complete failure and they cannot do that for another 8 years. I think Hillary (and possibly Bill behind the scenes) will be able to find compromises with the non-bagger Republicans, and the non-baggers will conclude their interests are better served by making some progress.

So there you have it -- conditions for a new era.

Or ... the GOP could really just decide to do the circular firing quad thing the next 8 years. I don't think they are that stupid, but I may be wrong.

And we should recognize the nearly impossible circumstances Obama had to deal with. He may honestly be the only person in this entire country who could have managed through this 8-year GOP cluster**** leaving the nation strong, safe, and mostly stable. History will probably find Obama to be right up there with Washington, Lincoln, and FDR guiding this nation through existential crises.