The sharp-eyed Ben Smith observes that Obama has become much more explicitly anti-Bush on the campaign trail lately, most notably in his speech in South Carolina this weekend. I agree, and think it's long overdue. Not only is Obama now throwing out standard red-meat lines about Cheney, Libby, Brownie, and Rove, he's talking about how the last seven-plus years have been uniquely destructive ones. Of course, as Ben points out, there's still an effort to suggest that the problems started earlier and run deeper than the Bush administration, and that Hillary Clinton is tied to some of them. But at least Obama's no longer implying that Bush and the Clintons (and, for that matter, anyone who's spent much time in Washington) are in some sense equally blameworthy, which runs completely counter to the appraisal of most Democrats. I think it's a positive step for him.
--Noam Scheiber