MICKEY KAUS: Did the Web lead Obama astray?

Why has Obama’s public campaign been so ineffective for the past month? . . . Specifically, a) he exaggerated the power of his Web-friendly left wing; b) he overestimated the force of attack lines the Web-friendly left wing would find convincing, like pointing out, when discussing Iran in Debate #3, that Romney had once “invested in a Chinese state oil company that was doing business with the Iranian oil sector;” c) he fell for the netroots’ psychological impulse to “fight back” when he should have been borrowing, triangulating and coopting; d) he ended his campaign pushing lame internet-friendly rhetorical gimmicks–”Romnesia,” “The 1980s are … calling”–instead of tried and true substantive pitches about protecting Medicare and Social Security, etc. ** Memes instead of meat! His team is so Web-savvy they’ve forgotten how to campaign.

You do have to get out from behind the computer occasionally.