Now, our friends at the Republican convention were more than happy to talk about everything they think is wrong with America, but they didn’t have much to say about how they’d make it right. They want your vote, but they don’t want you to know their plan. And that’s because all they have to offer is the same prescription they’ve had for the last thirty years:

“Have a surplus? Try a tax cut.”

“Deficit too high? Try another.”

“Feel a cold coming on? Take two tax cuts, roll back some regulations, and call us in the morning!”

In Tampa the Republican argument against Obama’s re-election was pretty simple, pretty snappy: ‘We left him a total mess, he hasn’t finished cleaning it up fast enough, so fire him and put us back in.’ I like the argument for President Obama’s re-election a whole lot better. He inherited a deeply damaged economy, put a floor under the crash, began the long hard road to recovery and laid the foundation for a modern, more well-balanced economy.

In the end, the American dream is not a sprint or even a marathon, but a relay.