There are many reasons that “I’m more bipartisan than the other guy” is an underwhelming message to take into a hard-fought election, among them that an election is an inherently partisan choice — voters have to choose one party over another, even if they split their ticket for different offices. But as we get closer to Election Day, we see an irony in the fact that a centerpiece of the McCain criticism of Obama is that he’s never worked across the aisle on controversial legislation, and never opposed his party’s leadership on a major issue.

The next Congress may be so heavily Democratic that a President Obama may never have to reach across the aisle, at least for the first two years.