I believe him. I was talking with some Republicans at a Thanksgiving dinner and most were willing to give Obama a shot (I think one or 2 had voted for him while the rest ranged from indifferent to mad, but they all agreed we should support him). The consensus was that Bush had been so bad to conservatism and the image of the nation was so tarnished that perhaps Obama wasn’t such a bad thing.
Granted I of course countered and pointed out how obviously to the left this guy is. While I do think Bush was bad for conservatism, I didn’t agree that the answer was a socialist that can speak well. But I do see at least where they are coming from. We had control of everything and look what was accomplished. Soaring deficits, nation building (which Bush specifically ran against), medicare part D, No Child Left Behind, the amnesty fiasco, etc.
I think there are just a lot of very disillusioned Republicans/conservatives out there right now, me included.
BTW, I understand what you are saying.....