do you think that left noplace for obama to go? >> well, i think it certainly was a place for romney to go. what he said and what a lot of people have written about for lang time was to eliminate a lot of the special tax benefits and tax entitlements and special tax treatments across the entire code lower tax rates it seems to me, was a very effective political stand. he articulated extremely well as pat said. it was very sub studentive performance. he said it in a very organized and clear way. i think he was extraordinarily more effective than anybody anticipated, and the president, for whatever reason, was just not in the game. >> why was obama thrown off balance? >> i call it the second-term blahs, john. you've seen this happen with other presidents running for reelection. it's the kind of a job where you're constantly having people, really, you know, yes- men and yes-women surrounding you, and you kind of get out of practice on standing up there and telling someone who is telling you to your face that you're ruining the country