HUBRIS: Why The President Lost On Gun Control: He Asked For Too Much, And Got Nothing. “In the negotiation over gun control, the alternative to an agreement was something that gun rights activists liked–no new gun laws–and gun controllers didn’t. That meant the administration started with a weak hand, and moreover, that everyone knew they were starting with a weak hand. They needed to be superbly tactical: move fast, propose a modest agreement that got the public on their side without fanning too much of a frenzy among the NRA’s membership, and get it done. Instead they squandered their post-Newtown momentum on an unwinnable negotiating position, and lost everything.”

That’s because they’re not actually very good at politics.