I would not be entirely surprised if Petraeus were our next president. Stranger things have happened.
Patraeus has said repeatedly he doesn't want anything to do with politics, especially for the presidency. I don't blame him a bit for that.
I hope to hell he's not! He has described himself as a "Rockefeller Republican". Yes, on the record! And not in 1975...recently! And not to Rolling Stone! Petraeus is NOT the savior the GOP is looking for.
From Washington to Grant to Eisenhower, generals become presidents only when they win wars. Thus there was no President McCarthur, and no President McClellan(who ran against Lincoln in ‘64 on the premise that the civil war could not be won, but then the Union won. Oopsie.).
I think this moves will keep Petreus busy in Afghanistan, so he cannot run against Obama in 2012. Also, I think Petreus might just be the new fall guy. Remember all his success in Iraq? Obama might be able to throw all that out the window.