I have been thinking about your comments (see below) that Obama hasn't shown any fresh ideas and have a few suggestions.

1- Part of the answer is in yesterday's David Brooks column that you found 'OK'. If you don't stay in one place for very long, you can develop a 'supple grasp' of ideas but not the depth essential to 'bold and refreshing.'

2- Part of the answer is that people in and around the campaign and of course, the mainstream reports, are more interested in style than substance, ie "does he look Presidential" on his European trip.

3- Part of the answer is that ideas that make a difference make for hard choices. For two economic examples around the relationship between taxes and investments, see Professor Feldstein in today's WSJ and Capitalist Nexus blog. For someone who thinks looking Presidential is the most important issue, thinking about these ideas might make them tired. But that doesn't make these tired ideas.

4- Another question is: what do we mean by 'ideas'? There are Big Ideas and then there are ideas for specific actions. The most effective of the latter are usually grounded in the former. Events of the past couple of weeks suggest the Democratic Party is confused on some fundamental big ideas - without getting those right, there's little hope for effective action. (Which takes us back to #1 above).