Just to top off an obvious and simplistic point, the Republican message of market-based solutions and low taxes will be a hard sell in an environment of escalating fear and uncertainty where Democrats are promising the Rose Garden solution of government intercession. The genius of Bill Clinton and his campaign was to soundbite and sell. The Democrats are doing that. The Republicans not so much. Factor in foreign policy in a ramped up environment of global tensions and we’re seeing the primacy of generalities embodied by change and hope overcoming the technical details of market economies “as the best path to freedom and prosperity.” The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. But it’s not always the best path.

Or something like that.