The ABCs of Sarah Palin

"Palin can't blame her muddled responses on Gibson, who treats her fairly and conducts himself professionally. Never mind about her not being ready to be president. She wasn't even ready for this interview."

Andrew Sullivan: "It's very clear that Palin has never heard of the Bush doctrine on pre-emption, perhaps the most significant element of his disastrous legacy in foreign policy. She is clearly out of her depth."

New Republic's Eve Fairbanks: "I have no doubt Palin is intelligent, but she sounded like someone who had simply never had to think about many of the things Gibson asked and had just crammed for a test."

Meanwhile, assorted lefty pundits are just begging Obama to take the gloves off and start swinging. This reminds me of the period last fall, when he was trailing Hillary by 20 and journalists said if he didn't start attacking her he'd be seen as a wuss. Obama did ratchet up a bit, though never as aggressively as his media cheering section wanted. And that turned out all right for him in the end.

Arianna Huffington demands some "righteous rage":

"Obama has demonstrated a laudatory levelheadedness -- the ability to keep his head while those around him were losing theirs -- over the long haul of the '08 campaign, always presenting a cool and unruffled image. And it has served him well.

"This is clearly part of Obama's lifelong attempt to present a nonthreatening persona, what Shelby Steele has dubbed the 'iconic Negro.' Think Oprah, Michael Jordan, and Tiger Woods. Now picture them in your mind . . . they're smiling aren't they?

"Being likeable is obviously a good thing in politics. So is being analytical and thoughtful and composed. But the last seven-plus years demand more than a detached analysis -- and certainly more than a beaming smile.

"They demand indignation. Outrage. Fury.

"Obama has often said that he is running because of what Dr. King called 'the fierce urgency of now.' He needs to show that fierceness and that urgency."

At the Root, Terence Samuel says Obama has the wrong weaponry:

"This is not a civics seminar; it's a knife fight, and the McCain camp is bringing automatic rifles.