Tom asks where the Republican Outrage is

My old college friend Tom has written a post that notes that outside of Republican talk radio (Rush + everyone on FoxNews), there has been little outrage and anger from everyday Republicans. The implication is that Republicans are more respectful than Democrats. I'm not sure I buy into the argument.

As I commented on Tom's blog, I think the reaction hasn't been the same because of the 61% disapproval rate of the guy who left and the great amount of optimism that Obama has inspired in the US and around the world.

But let's not assume that Republicans are just nicer or more polite than Dems. I think a lot of it has to do with the extreme amount of grace that John McCain has shown and others have followed. But the elbows on John Boehner, Mitch McConnell and others are as sharp as anyone's on the Hill.

I do hope that Obama can use the honeymoon period to try to create a wave of bi-partisanship, but we'll see. At least he seems to be governing to the middle (as evidenced by many of his Cabinet selections and other appointments). And I do believe that the level of tranparency he's trying to bring to government can be sustained and works to regain the trust of the American people.