Karl Rove,

in The Wall Street Journal: “Among Obama’s more appealing 2008 campaign lines were his pledge not ‘to pit Red America against Blue America’ and his promise to ‘resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.’ Obama gave into that temptation the moment he was inaugurated. . . . Romney will need to tap into the disappointment and regret that many Americans . . . feel about Obama. Yet while setting the record straight about the last three dismal years ... is important, it is not enough. Winning candidates for the American presidency offer a positive, optimistic agenda that reassures voters about what they will do once in the White House.”