Transforming the party is not the same as transforming the nation

At first glance one might be taken aback to learn that a plurality of Democrats think Barack Obama should ignore the federal courts and rule by executive fiat. Upon reflection one should remember that every year his party honors a president who did just that at it annual Jefferson Jackson Day fund raising dinners. The result of of Jackson's high handed action brought ignominy to the nation and death to many Indians who perished on the Trail of Tears. The Indians won in the Supreme Court but Andrew Jackson defied the Court. The exact history is more complicated than just stated, not all tribes were included in that particular relocation, and some relocations were brought about by states but the fact remains that the winning parties in Worcester v. Georgia lost their land notwithstanding.
A Rasmussen poll found that 43 percent of Democrats think the president should have the right to ignore federal court rulings if they are standing in the way of actions he feels are important for the country. Only 26 percent of Democrats think he should not. Among voters at large 65 percent of voter believe the president posses no such right. Among Republicans the answer is no by 81 percent and 67 percent for unaffiliated voters.
The president who promised to transform America failed in that venture but did succeed in transforming the Democratic Party and there may be hell to pay for that. In 2009, the year Obama took office the Democrats controlled 27 state legislatures, today it controls just 14. Nebraska has a unicameral legislature the remaining states all have a bicameral legislature for a total of 99 bodies. The Republicans control 68 of them. In 2009 the Democrats held 26 governorships today that number has dwindled to 18. Harry Reid had a 60 seat majority in the Senate and Nancy Pelosi had a 257 seat majority. Today Reid leads just 46 Democrats (44 if you exclude independent Angus King and socialist Bernie Sanders) while Nancy presides over a delegation of 188. If the Democrats cannot recapture some state legislatures by 2020 reapportionment will not bring them a lot of joy.
The upshot of this is the public does not much like the new, transformed, Democratic Party.
 Aside control of the presidency the Republicans are at the zenith of their power. One must go back to before FDR and the New Deal to see so many Republican holding elective office. Obama has made Democrats increasingly unelectable. When 43% of Democrats think they are living in or wish to live in a post constitutional dictatorship the party has a problem and the problem is Obama. He has liberated the loony bin. Like characters in the Stonehearst Asylum the patients run the hospital.
If Hillary Clinton cannot win the presidency we can kiss modern liberalism good-bye. The Republican president will be able to appoint as many as 4 or even 5 Supreme Justices in the likeness of Mike Lee or Ted Cruz. No matter how conservative the new president may be it will not be conservative enough for many in the Republican Party. The extremes always drive the debate. Deficits will get reduced with a vengeance and many of the reforms we have advocated for such as a flat tax will be enacted. Obama has given the Republicans a historic opportunity let's hope they don't blow it.