a house divided

Peggy Noonan wonders if, contra the new conventional wisdom, the financial crisis might turn out to be good news for John McCain:

In a time of crisis, confusion and fear, Americans just might, in their practicality, turn back to the old tradition of divided government. They know the Congress will be Democratic. They assume it will soon be more Democratic. Therefore the president they choose may well be of the other party.

Comments

[Kyle]

Anecdotal evidence does not a logical argument make, but I don't know a single person who thinks this way, elitist or bitter (outside the election-obsessors, that is).

[Tony]

I'd agree... I think it's wishful thinking if anything. I mean, I know there are a lot of dumb Americans, but to put the government into stalemate during a crisis doesn't seem like the best thing to do.... Why was there such a rapid recovery after the Great Depression (look at the GDP growth from '33 on through the decade to see what I mean - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Gdp20-40.jpg)? My guess is that it was due to the fact that FDR and his party had full control and they were determined to actually do something rather than sit on their hands - thus the New Deal. I know that there were still unemployment problems, but the only time anything seems to get done is when the stalemate is broken.

[Tony]

sorry about the link - here's the actual:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Gdp20-40.jpg