If Democrats get a spanking at the polls today, it's not because American voters are trending conservative or are frustrated with the direction liberal Democrats are leading the country, but because the electorate's disdain for the former Bush administration has abated.
That according to liberal PBS "To the Contrary" host and U.S. News contributing editor Bonnie Erbe.
From her November 2 blog post (emphasis mine):
Tomorrow, two states, including my own, will elect governors. President Obama has campaigned for both Democratic candidates, and the question is whether his efforts will pay off for them. At least in Virginia, there's not much hope for Creigh Deeds.
[...]I would like to add, however, that one reason President Obama slid into office was due to his incredibly lucky timing: Anyone but Bush was going to win the '08 presidential elections.
If President Bush had not mangled his job for eight years, and if the country had not finally awoken to that fact, President Obama would not have been able to win office. As a result, any coattail effect President Obama produces is dependent on anti-Bush sentiment. American voters have very short memories. President Bush has been out of office for almost one year (and if you recall, President-elect Obama started acting like the president even before he took the oath of office, again due to anti-Bush sentiment).
That said, with anti-Bush sentiment waning, President Obama's coattails are frayed and weak.
