TAPPED SAYS that Bush may be better off without control of Congress:

And even worse, unless the GOP won a working majority in the Senate (about 55 votes), he would have the expectations accompanying a unified government without a real ability to move legislation through the Senate. Smart Republicans remember the lesson of Bill Clinton’s first two years in office — the worst years of his presidency, despite his party’s control of Congress.

Here, meanwhile, is InstaPundit in May of 2001 (before the Blog, in Slate’s “The Fray”):

With Jeffords a Dem, Bush will be able to blame any legislative failures on the Democratic Senate. Also, the partisan atmosphere that results will — if the White House spins it right — look like it’s the Democrats’ fault. Since Americans (at the moment) hate partisan rancor, that will be to Bush’s advantage.

On the other hand, failing to produce lots of big wins with control of the House and Senate would have been unforgivable for Bush, even though his control of the Senate was always notional.

Advantage: InstaPundit!