Jacob Sullum is (mostly) on point:
In terms of spending on regulation, education, expanded health care entitlements, stimulus schemes, and bailouts of banks and automakers (not to mention two wasteful wars), Bush led the way for Obama. And lest we forget, the Transportation Security Administration, whose mindless requirements and ritual humiliations are the hook for Bai's column, was created on Bush's watch, along with various other liberty-infringing anti-terrorism measures that Obama has continued or expanded. Bai says the "the administration's surprise" at the intensity of anti-TSA sentiment "seems to indicate that it still doesn't quite get what the debate is really about." Bai's reality-defying assumption that Democrats stand for more government while Republicans stand for less seems to indicate that Obama is not the only one who misunderstands the debate.
I'd describe Bush as an incredibly lax regulator, but Sullum is right about everything else. The point is that a GOP = small government/Democrats = big government is worse than a false dichotomy; it's the Republican marketing strategy. That's why it's irritating to watch a political analyst treat it as an essential truth of American politics.
