"Personally, I believe we'd be in the same situation no matter who was at the helm."

I agree, many of our current problems would have occurred regardless of who was president, how the country deals with them would be different. I think we spend too much time focusing on the president's policies and not enough on the fools in congress, there are enough embiciles and leeches on both sides of the aisle to screw things up royally. I prefer a split government and thought the republican congress and democratic president was fairly effective.