This is a return to the original narrative on McCain: That he's Bush reincarnate. I've never been a huge fan of that particular line of attack, as McCain has enough of an independent profile to blunt it, but it's not a bad place to start. If it's going to work over the long run, however, the Obama campaign is going to have to make the sense of continuity more visible. That's why Obama's response on the tire gauge issue was interesting. "It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant," he said. That attack on GOP know-nothingism has its dangers -- namely, that it could come out sounding elitist. But it also has its upsides. It's a concrete link: They're not simply from the same party, but they share a dangerous analytical detachment from the problems facing the country. The video archives are full of McCain promising 10,000 years in Iraq or admitting he doesn't know much about the economy or can't log-on to the internet or accidentally saying Iran is training al Qaeda. Play those clips enough times, situate them next to Bush making similar mistakes, and you've built a connection far stronger than shared party ID.
