I was thinking it might be a little quicker than usual. Between Obama reaching out to college students and the ability to share ideas via the internet, I'm thinking we have a chance to see a real direction change soon. Probably will be at least 3 years before the effects start to be seen. The economy bottoming out probably will accelerate the change.
I have no hard facts to back up my beliefs, so I am actually anticipating the dissection of my supposition with some relish. That is one of the things I love about this forum, ideas are taken apart and put together in ways that are insightful and entertaining.