The question is whether Barack Obama will be able to make his “John McCain is a third Bush term” meme stick or, to keep a strained analogy going a bit, whether McCain can instead successfully push the “Obama would be a second term for Jimmy Carter” theme.

I suspect they both will be a success at this, at least among their faithful. I suspect where the independants will come around is on the question of a third Bush term being a bad thing. Given the recent successes in Iraq, and elsewhere, and the alternative of the increasing incoherent Obama policy statements, the independants may well be a harder sell than projected.

The whole nuclear thing?

So we're threatening Iran with military action if they don't stop their nuclear program, and they're holding us hostage?

Can you elaborate?

The whole nuclear thing?

We’re sort of being held hostage by Iran again, albeit in a much less palpable way.

Really? Can you elaborate?

The party in power likes to be in power therefore they don't rock the boat if it doesn't gain them anything.

As rank and file Republicans have learned during the first six years of the Bush Administration, there's a lot of difference between an opposition party and the same party once they're in power.

The question is whether Barack Obama will be able to make his “John McCain is a third Bush term” meme stick.

Few more appearances on TV from Mark Sanford and no problemo.

I think many of them had the impression that the democrats would take control and start rolling back everything they hate, end the war, and all sorts of other progressive legislation.

It just isn't panning out as they'd hoped. I think power and politics is intervening. The party in power likes to be in power therefore they don't rock the boat if it doesn't gain them anything.

Presumably, this is an artifact of greater general dissatisfaction with the state of the country than with Reid, Pelosi, and company per se. Still, an absolutely amazing finding.

I doubt it. I think that it's more likely that quite a few Democrats, particularly activists, actually believe that everything they despise in our current government was solely the creation of the Republicans. AUMF? Warrantless wiretaps? NCLB? Lack of healthcare reform? All products of the Republican Congress!

The latest Congress is a reality check and reality is more complicated than prevailing narratives. And hard.