George W. Bush didn’t single-handedly cause the Great Recession; not even Alan Greenspan can take credit for that. In the end, however, a party that believes that tax cuts and deregulation are the answers to everything clearly didn’t have a plausible response to the events of 2008. The voters could see that, and responded accordingly.
I will address Obama’s legacy in a series of posts in December or January. For the present, what really strikes me as being significant about 2008 is the beginning of the GOP’s descent into vandalism. McCain’s program was actually mainstream and reasonable; among other things, he supported cap-and-trade. By the end of the campaign, however, the crowds were ignoring him and baying for Palin. The barbarians have been at the gates ever since.