“Democrats used to thrive on Hollywood endings. Today, liberalism is more like a dark, complicated novel. It’s time to go back to making movies.

This fall’s presidential contest will turn on many things, but one of them will certainly be the parties’ contrasting aesthetics: the comforting bromides of conservative cheerfulness versus the disturbing sobriety of new liberalism’s cold glare. But while it may be foolish and even dangerous to view the world as anything but tragic, doing so isn’t a very promising way to win votes. Twenty-five years ago, conservatives stole liberal optimism, and George W. Bush, currently bumping from one disaster to another, is relying on it to pull him through this election.” —Neal Gabler, American Prospect