Couple quick thoughts:
President Obama has said, quite honestly I think, that he regrets his 2006 vote against raising the debt limit. His ability to change his mind and admit he was wrong about something is rightly viewed as a sign of his strength, not a weakness.
Although Democrats were a majority in both the House and the Senate his first two years, they never truly had a working supermajority in the Senate. As we all know, it takes 60 votes in the Senate, not 51, to move legislation. Sen. Franken became the 60th senator in July 2009, but because one of those 60 is Sen. Lieberman, an independent who by and large opposed President Obama's agenda, this 60 was never a working supermajority for the President. Further, it fell back to 59 when Sen. Brown replaced Sen. Kennedy seven months later.
Polling consistently shows that President Obama still soundly beats every Republican candidate seeking to replace him. Mitt Romney typically falls just a few points short, but he'd ultimately depress GOP turnout with his health care loving, silver-spoon licking, employee firing, business exporting, non-Evangelical background. Unlike President Obama, who under constant political attack, none of the other candidates are bashing Romney much because they hope to be his VP. Just wait, it's coming, and he'll crumble.
Oh, and America's more than had its fill of yee-haw Texas Governors.
