John McCain likes to mock Barack Obama's repetition of the idea that McCain would represent another Bush term by laughing it off as unbelievable to voters. Oh really?

A new USA Today/Gallup poll shows that voters overwhelmingly fear that McCain would simply continue Bush's policies.

A recent USA Today/Gallup poll finds about two in three Americans concerned that John McCain would pursue policies as president that are too similar to what George W. Bush has pursued. Nearly half -- 49% -- say they are "very concerned" about this.

The breakdown is as follows:

Very concerned: 49%
Somewhat concerned: 19%
Not too concerned: 16%
Not concerned at all: 15%

In a sign of just how far McCain has fallen -- and the reason McCain has ceded the independent vote to Barack Obama -- the fear that McCain represents Bush's 3rd term is equally potent among independents as it is among the electorate at large.

Very concerned: 47%
Somewhat concerned: 20%
Not too concerned: 17%
Not concerned at all: 15%

Although Gallup has to dig deep to find it, there may be one silver lining for John McCain:

Obama is running as the "change" candidate, and while that would seem to be the advantageous positioning in an election to replace an unpopular incumbent, there is risk in advocating more change than perhaps Americans would be comfortable with. To the extent that McCain and the Republican Party can paint Obama as looking to make too great a departure from the status quo, they can make McCain seem like a safe alternative.

Indeed, with 49% of voters either very or somewhat concerned that Obama will bring too much change, this result does imply that McCain might have a bit of a foundation from which to launch a too much change campaign against Obama. But that's not what McCain is doing at all. Instead, he's going after him as a "typical politician" who says one thing and does another; in other words, McCain would have us believe that Obama won't bring as much change as he says he will.

Add this to Bowers's list of reasons why McCain's portrayal of Obama as typical is actually a good thing:

• It is kind of hard for Obama to be "elitist" or "arrogant" if he is also "typical," don't you think? Nothing makes your attacks more ineffective than when they directly contradict each other.


• Yes, let's match up a "typical" Democrat and a "typical" Republican. According to the latest NBC / Wall Street Journal poll, a generic, or "typical" Democrat leads the presidential race by 15% over a Republican, while Obama only leads by 6% over McCain. I'd much prefer the "typical" match-up to the atypical one.


• Given that a lot of people won't vote for Obama because he is black, aka not typical, please keep hammering the message home about how "typical," or "normal" Obama actually is. Really, Obama is perfectly typical and normal, so go ahead and vote for him.


• Given that about half of the politicians in America are Republicans, keep emphasizing the notion that "typical" politicians suck. After all, such a statement implies that Republicans themselves typically suck, too. And, as the recent LA Times poll showed, most third party leaners favor McCain over Obama this year, so eschewing typical politicians would have a net positive impact for Democrats.