… I cannot remember an election in which the gap was greater between the magnitude of our problems and the substance of our politics. With rare exceptions, Mitt Romney has alternated vacuity and self-contradiction, with interludes of fuzzy math.
Regrettably, Barack Obama has done little better. A president who entered office with transformational aspirations has chosen to run a tactical, transactional reelection campaign. …
I have no doubt that Obama’s aspiration to do big things is as burning as ever. … My point is rather than the way he has chosen to conduct his campaign will make it even harder than it had to be to get these things done during his second term. [cont.]
Bill Galston, Brookings