That sound you hear is Gov. Patrick screaming as Joan Vennochi cuts to the bone.

GOVERNOR Deval Patrick hired Barack Obama’s campaign manager to help run his 2010 reelection bid.

But Patrick is no Obama, as their mutual strategist, David Plouffe, must understand.

Forget the shared rhetoric, the quest for hope and change, and the similarities in their life stories. Patrick’s approach to politics and the media is the opposite of Obama’s. Politically speaking, the contrast is killing the Massachusetts governor.

The past few weeks have been relatively good ones for Patrick. He stared down Massachusetts lawmakers, who eventually came through on three critical “reform’’ packages the governor demanded - pension, ethics, and transportation.

Now the question is whether Patrick reaps any political benefit, or squanders it.

Despite grim-sounding poll numbers, Patrick still holds the advantage. He’s a Democrat in Massachusetts, and his potential challengers face an assortment of political hurdles.

State Treasurer Timothy Cahill, a fellow Democrat, is positioning himself as a fiscal conservative. But it’s hard to see how Cahill wins a Democratic primary, or, first, gets on the ballot at a state convention controlled by Patrick supporters. That forces a run as an independent.

Republican Christy Mihos ran as an independent in 2006. His campaign then was undisciplined, although Mihos might be more effective with Dick Morris, a nationally known consultant, behind him. Republican Charles Baker, the head of Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare, has stature in political and business circles, but is unknown beyond that.

If voters are really angry with Patrick and stay that way, anything can happen. The increase in the state sales tax could stoke an anti-Patrick movement. But, today, Massachusetts seems more disappointed than mad.

UPDATE: More from Michael Graham, Wayne Woodlief, the Attleboro Sun-Chronicle, the Boston Globe, the Phoenix and the Herald.

SECOND UPDATE: From Holly Robichaud, Howie Carr, the Herald and the Globe.

THIRD UPDATE: More from the Boston Globe, the Herald and the Quincy Patriot- Ledger.