Paul Zisserson, on Jennifer Rubin:

Jennifer, I disagree a bit. To be sure, campaigns differ from office holding, but one can learn from them and apply those lessons to, in this case, the presidency. Obama clearly learned a great deal during his entire election run. By November, he was a far better candidate than he was at the beginning of the primary process. His most effective campaign skills and successes which you dismiss as helping him in the presidency will serve him well as president: communications, personal likeability, exploitation of breaking the racial barrier, and what every president needs, the ability to make unpopular policies sound necessary and reasonable. These traits are, of course, not related to the underlying merits of policies which, if liberal, will ultimately fail. But what he learned and demonstrated during the campaign will provide him with cover and political capital for a good length of time. He’s going to be a very formidable opponent.