Obama And The Bad Boyfriend Benefit

Professor of International Politics, Daniel W. Drezner has nailed it with this post on his Foreign Policy blog:
What now? Barack Obama, bad boyfriends, and the good people who do dumb things

As the new foreign policy leader, Barack Obama will inherit a wonderful political gift - one that will hopefully counteract a first-year liability that will inevitably surprise him.

Obama's inheritance is the Bad Boyfriend Benefit. Personal experience, combined with the consumption of way too many Sex and the City episodes, has taught me that one of the easiest gigs in the world is to be the next boyfriend after a bad one. Because the contrast is so sharp, the legacy of a bad boyfriend is that if the new one is simply a decent human being, they can still have the overwhelming support of friends and family.

To put this in more concrete terms - the contrast between Bush and Obama is so sharp that he will automatically benefit by the comparison. Even when president Obama continues the policies of his predecessor, the initial focus will be on the changes rather than the continuities. This will buy the Obama administration some much-needed goodwill in its first year of office.

Yep...I can already feel the love

Hat tip Instapundit