I see what you are saying, but I guess I'm coming from a different direction. I thought Ledger by far was the best part of the movie; Bale is a good actor but it sounded like he was chewing gravel when playing Batman. (It made me have a hard time taking seriously his speeches) To me, he was more interesting as Bruce Wayne; I really like his Bruce Wayne because he's arrogant and fun.
I didn't buy into the whole political subtext either; I thought that was a bit heavy handed.
This is a funny short little clip with bobble heads:
http://www.complexvideo.com/Celebrit...-Three-Minutes