'A New Kind of Politics'? Good Luck With That.

Certainly, McCain did not shy away from the cheap shot or the divisive argument; the palling-around-with-terrorists, Obama-as-socialist themes were not the elevated campaign that he, too, pledged to run.

I don't blame Obama for responding in kind as much as I bristle at his simultaneous posture that he is above that sort of gutter politics. Even more, I question his assumption that the pressures that led him to such campaign tactics will somehow melt away after the election.

What evidence is there that a President Obama would govern differently than candidate Obama campaigned? Would a President Obama press policies -- on teacher accountability, on climate change, on trade -- that discomfit Democratic Party interest groups? Does he have the spine to stand up to the inevitably overreaching demands of congressional Democrats? Does he have some magical, Republican-whisperer ability to quell a political opposition that will be determined from Day One to frustrate his program and regain power?

Obama's closing argument offers reassuring words, undergirded by his evident instinct for consensus and pragmatism.

I know how he wants to govern. I'm not convinced he can pull it off.

marcusr@washpost.com