And I've heard some people on the Left say that Obama is so SMART that he's realized after only a couple of years in the Senate that he wouldn't be able to do nearly as much as President and this is why he hasn't pushed for any significant legislation "yet".
He's a new god too.
McCain has a lot harder job of differencing himself from Bush than Obama has.
To put it blunt, I think people underestimate just how tired the country is of Bush's and Clinton's. Obama won the nomination because it appeared that he wasn't the same old, same old. And because he had enough momentum early on to sew it up before the doubts began to show. So now he's got it. And since then he's done nothing but spout the same old tired Democrat solutions to everything - winfall profits tax, extended unemployment, tax the rich, yadda, yadda, yadda. With every passing day he's showing that he isn't the new breeze everyone expected but a continuation of the usual Democratic hot air. That's not going to play well with independents. McCain should be able to capitalize on this but he's spending all his time explaining his latest verbal gaff.