I think that both candidates — and both parties — are paralyzed by the bleak economic prospects for the foreseeable future. It will be fiscally impossible to cut taxes or to develop major new programs. We will have to continue muddling our way forward on our current course for probably at least the next eight years. If either candidate really promises to do anything different, he will not be able to sustain his argument with realistic budget estimates.

I think that maybe the public has been developing a lot of sales resistence to political promises to make major improvements. There is stronger resistence to either cutting or raising taxes or to either cutting or developing current programs or to either decreasing or increasing regulation — and so on.

That might be bad news for Obama, because I expect a lot of people will split their votes — voting Democrats into the Congress and voting McCain into the Presidency — with the calculated intention of continuing the current deadlock, which seems like the wisest course forward.

Overall, the public is not being conned. On the contrary, the public is becoming more resistant to political promises than it ever has been before.