While I wouldn't go quite as far as to say "not a hair's breath of difference between the two", I will say that there hasn't turned out to be as much of a diffe

While I wouldn't go quite as far as to say "not a hair's breath of difference between the two", I will say that there hasn't turned out to be as much of a difference as I would have liked in some areas. And, certainly not as much as was advertised. And, that advertising is the point here. The parent was arguing that people had no reason to believe that he was different at that time (without the benefit of hindsight). But, based on "rhetoric", "presentation", raw intelligence, proposed policy positions, etc., there certainly seemed to be a striking difference between Bush and Obama.