None of the "innovations" the Obama Tech Team came up with were "new." Every single one of them exists in the "real world" of product development in technology that I am supposed to be working on now instead of reading the altogether self-congratulation/gloat mode the press is in after "the greatest campaign" ever! I am not want to saying there are no lessons from their win, but nothing Obama's team  did is either exceptional or wonderful if you consider the "permanent" campaign operations. The next "GOP" contender needs at least the same level of Tech "weaponry" although the Conservative activist/professional class needs to take over as the political consultants have, once again, failed to deliver.

What a thoughtful post. I want to thank you Rick for the best thing I've read today and I have been thorough in consuming everything I could get on 3 monitors running 2 computers all day.  [and Allahpundit has you in Hot Air's "QOTD."]

Douhat's reference to Chait's piece misses the mark. Hugh Hewitt destroyed Chait today on his blog, the day after Chait appeared on his show. Chait's contortions of intellectual dishonesty are no better or worse of the "talking point" campaign exposed so well in the first debate. The President is, and always was, an amateur. He's only ever had money and inevitability. The quality of the people in his administration, and now the campaign, are just not that good. It is said we get the politicians we deserve and I am praying we deserve Mitt Romney right now. 

What an awful endorsement. It manages to be cynical, prescriptive and negative all at once. But I guess I shouldn't worry too much about how they arrived at what I believe is a sensible decision. 

Right. It isn't that our politics have gotten smaller, but our President has. 

I walked those fields nears Sharpsburg MD., this past January on an exceptionally mild Saturday. I was moved by the quiet and calm of that day contrasted by the hell it really was back then. I agree the Park Service does an exceptional job. In June, I was at Gettysburg. The same feeling. To be traversing the path of the those heroes of the Civil War, on both sides, is a very special experience. Thanks for sharing.

It is true, we are surrounded by everyday heroes. Or, is it that they are new heroes created everyday? It is not necessary to agree with Taleb but dismiss him at your peril. If Kahneman, a Nobel Prize winner in Economics, and author of the splendid "Fast Brain, Slow Brain," validates Taleb's thinking then it is good enough for me. I had a friend who used to say that on those market events that we could term "Black Swans," "the money was returned to its rightful owners!" I used to think it a very cynical thing to say but now think it is merely a command of the obvious.

The guy is just out of ideas. Hyperindividualism? What the heck is that. The RNC convention's themes just aren't post modern enough for Brooks. Honestly, if it wasn't for the NY Times, he'd be blogging from his basement.