William A. Galston

I see [the Obama] campaign as having, at the very least, not furthered the cause of compromise.

It's pretty stunning that [the fiscal cliff] didn't come up [during the debates] and it's certainly not clear to me why no moderator raised the question...With regard to the urgent fiscal question facing the country, this campaign has missed an opportunity to educate the public to these issues. As a result, these will come as a big surprise to the public.

There's an old adage to the effect that 'personnel is policy', [and Romney's staff is] very much divided between the Neocon pole and the more traditionally Realist pole...And if press reports are to be believed, Romney has taken advice from both. This is a pretty good camp strategy for keeping both sides of Republican establishment happy. What it means down the road has not been clarified.