Since 1968, except for the anomaly of the Carter presidency in the middle 1970's and the Clinton years, it's been GOP all the way, at least in the White House. Congress started going to the GOP in the mid-1990's with the House. And, as Glenn says, the GOP and the Blue Dog wing of the Dems dominated in the Senate. For all the love of Bill Clinton, he certainly didn't dominate politically.

You might want to compare that history (40 years) with the stretch in the 19th and early 20th century. There, except for two split presidencies of Grover Cleveland and then Woodrow Wilson, it was GOP from Grant through Hoover! In fact, the only times of real Democratic dominance were during FDR-Truman and Kennedy-Johnson. Wilson was a lame duck in his last two years (and ill to boot), and Truman had to contend with a strong GOP in Congress.

The election of 2008 will be a watershed, similar to 1932. The country is divided, but they want action -- which they cannot get with a GOP president, as Congress will remain in Democratic Party hands. The people know it's time to act. For all McCain's abilities to "reach across the aisle," a split between White House and Congress will mean dithering and doodling.

Should Obama win, it will also mean a watershed for the Supreme Court. The older liberal judges will be replaced by new liberal judges, and the slow dead squeeze on the court will stop. Maybe Scalia will have a stroke. We can only hope.

You're right, his statement did say much. Yours, however, not very. Check the polls dude, even if it were down home genuine folksiness, the schtick and winking isn't working. At all.

Didn't you get the new talking points? You should be talking the focus away from your embarrasing VP disaster, and focusing on Obama's half brother, Ayers, and Rev. Wright. Amateur.

Simple.

The grand Republican strategy has always been "Tell the Lie often and everywhere, and people will believe it!". Worked for the War.

The David Brooks strategy is "Tell the People what they should think, and they will start believing it in order to be one of The Crowd!"

Problem? People no longer want to be a part of THAT Crowd.

but - hey - fits here too?...

If the Dems were in power we would not be in Iraq.

If the Dems were in you wouldn't have so many incompetent Bushies running agencies.

See Gonzalez.

If the Dems were in power we would not have a housing bubble which has on the brink of a depression.

that was created by the Bush Admin.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/13/AR2008021302783.html

Predatory Lenders' Partner in Crime

How the Bush Administration Stopped the States From Stepping In to Help Consumers.

By Eliot Spitzer

Thursday, February 14, 2008; Page A25

When history tells the story of the subprime lending crisis and recounts its devastating effects on the lives of so many innocent homeowners, the Bush administration will not be judged favorably. The tale is still unfolding, but when the dust settles, it will be judged as a willing accomplice to the lenders who went to any lengths in their quest for profits. So willing, in fact, that it used the power of the federal government in an unprecedented assault on state legislatures, as well as on state attorneys general and anyone else on the side of consumers.

This was Spitzer's death warrant. A month later he pops up on an FBI bug.

So when Bush says they never saw it coming. They saw it coming. Just throw this in the pile of crimes by the Bush admin.

If the GOP had not been "born again"...? Where would Halliburton be in 2003? What would FEMA look like in 2005? the Dept of Justice in 2006? FISA in 2008? Would there be a Dept of Homeland Security in 2008?

"As polling data conclusively demonstrates, the mindset of the voting public is infinitely more rational and substance-based than the pundits and the Right fantasize when they lyrically praise the Regular American..."

I hope you're right. I hope it is enough to stem the tsunami of primitive swiftboating that the rightwing masterminds are sure to let loose - some filth, some idiocy - right before the election.

Americans don't really have any idea how the rest of the world makes fun of them. How Bush politics have made them look like passive, dumbed citizens of some banana republic. How angry the world is, about the Wall street crash.

Living in Europe, I regularly get the brunt of this. It generally makes me sick when I hear my 10 year-old son's friends with Bush jokes, or when the even the half-senile old neighbor of mine cluck-clucks about the mess the US has made in Iraq.

As soon as Obama is inaugurated, everything that happens from that moment will be the Democrats fault. But amazingly, everything that happens from that fateful day will be just fine, and of no consequence.

I can hardly wait. It will be better than Christmas.

"Really, now, couldn't you hold your condescension in check for even a few minutes?"

It's only condescension if undeserved.

hey - a friendly soul - i suffer under the Germans - they are soo... rational!

David Brooks and others are so off-base. They have power and a soapbox, and if they really cared about getting it right, they would have such resources to do so. Heck, they could conduct their own statistically-reliable polling if they wanted to. As it is, they do nothing but create myths that often are 180 degrees inaccurate. I lean liberal on most issues, though not all, and when I read that to Brooks, I am therefore an elitist who frequents Starbucks, I am dumbfounded. No, David, I can't afford Starbucks. I brew my own Lipton tea and add a bit of 1% milk. And even Lipton is getting too expensive--store brand tea is next!

As for the "average" citizen who wants a candidate who's "folksy" and therefore genuine, many of us recognize that "folksy" appeal is designed to exploit. Remember Bush 41's frequent references to eating pork rinds? Interesting how he had that craving only in election years. My guess is that he's partaken of caviar far more often than pork rinds over these past 16 years.