If history repeats itself, Jimmy Carter's loony left Utopian crap split the Dems for a decade and the only reason Bill Clinton won is the Republicans didn't have a viable candidate. Sorry, but GHWB was rather unimpressive overall as President, and his timing was bad. We should have had the Gulf War in 93 instead of 91 and he would have probably managed to win. His biggest problem was getting stuck with the bill for Reaganomics.
However, in the end, we have had 2 Dem Presidents since then and both sucked. Bill won because he appealed to the left and to moderates. Obama won basically because two Dem superdelegates voted against their constituents for Obama. Instead of the America-hating Obama we would have had the criminal csar Hitlery so there's no real consolation. Obama also won because Republicans/conservatives sat home instead of voting against the Dems.
“When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.” Edumnd Burke