OBAMA LIGHT

The general consensus about last night's Presidential debate--from talking heads on both the left and the right--seems to be that Barack Obama got his clocked cleaned. Talking heads are only happy, however, when they and the people they report on are screaming incoherently at each other and everyone is going for the jugular. Being calm and collected, Mr. Obama was a disappointment.

But the real story of the debate is that Mr. Mitt is no longer the far right whack-job of the primaries. Indeed, he has moved to the center, maybe even to the left of center, becoming Obama Light. He now accepts many of the policies of ObamaCare, opposing it in name only. In financial regulation, he has just a few quibbles with Dodd-Frank. As for eliminating the federal budget deficit, yeah, both revenues (that is, taxes) and expenses are subject to adjustment. Grover Norquist must be apoplectic.

And oh yes, Mr. Mitt really doesn't dislike those on the lower half of the economic spectrum.

So where does that leave things? It actually leaves Mr. Mitt in pretty good shape. Tea Partiers and other extreme conservatives have nowhere else to go. And middle-of-the-roaders concerned with Mr. Obama's "strangeness" now have a seemingly attractive option.

So hop onboard the Mr. Mitt bandwagon. With middle-of-the-road policies, a very likely inevitable improvement of the cyclical economy, and a little luck in the international sphere, Mr. Mitt could go down as one of the nation's foremost Presidents. After all, life is fair only for the one percent.