Illegitimate

It's been hard to take digby in the last 6 months, despite how much I love her, because, frankly, her writing is often painfully depressing, but she's damn right:

All these themes reinforce each other, culminating in a vague sense that the Democrat -- in this case Obama --- is somehow an illegitimate leader, unworthy of the presidency, a fluke, a phony (and a fascist.) It might help McCain on the margins, but I don't think that's what this is really about; it's about setting the conditions and frame for Obama's ability to govern if he should win. It's what he will be fighting from the minute he takes the oath of office.

Oppositional politics is what the modern Republicans really do well. (It's the only thing they do well besides starting wars and pillaging the treasury.) They have a gift for making the Democrats dance on the head of a pin with the most simple-minded kabuki.

Obama will be seen as the interloper who stole the election from its rightful owner by fooling the nation into thinking he was something he wasn't. "He's a chameleon, a changeling, he's not quite right." Whether he wins big or by a hair, he'll still be an illegitimate president who must be stopped from doing anything until they can restore the White House to its proper occupants --- the Republicans. It will be the basis of their rationale for total obstructionism and ongoing character assassination.