Incumbency- the greatest political cross, this year?

Today Gordon Brown is likely to lose the British election, and his job as Prime Minister.
As one pundit put it, while speaking to Charlie Rose on PBS, "It has been thirteen years, and everyone is tired of the Labour government," first led by Tony Blair and more recently by Gordon Brown.
Ironically, the same pundit also indicated that, in the current economic disaster, all three political parties in Great Britain share virtually the same policies to deal with the crisis, but refuse to divulge their complete strategy to the electorate because to do so would frighten them.
"Don't tell the truth, because the people can't stand too much truth-telling!"

Now there is an approach that has a history of some considerable length. And that history is not restricted to Great Britain. Pierre Trudeau was never going to introduce "price controls" as advocated by then Conservative leader Robert Standfield, and Jean Cretien was certainly going to abolish the GST if elected, and George Bush was only going to attack Iraq as a last resort, only after all the diplomatic initiatives had been exhausted!
How stupid do these people think we are?
And how patronizing and patronized will we put up with?
It was T.S Eliot who coined the phrase, "People cannot stand too much reality."
But in the age of information, it may have lost its relevance...because the only difference between the politicians and the voters, in liberal democracies is the timing of the release/access of information. It will all come out eventually. And when it does, it will usually confirm our worst suspicions.
Ironically, in the U.S. the history is that well over 95% of incumbents are re-elected,just because they have the funds and the gall to manage the flow of information, continually polishing their image...and this year, incumbency may be the greatest political cross, sinking many good leaders.