We did have an October surprise, after all, in the form of an economic collapse, and it "all but certainly decided the race," writes Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal. But as she watches Democrats' 'smug triumphalism" and angry Republicans' finger-pointing, Noonan can't help but think that "both campaigns, in the closing stretch, seem not fully worthy of the moment."
"One had the sense this week that our entire political class is playing Frisbee on the edge of a precipice, that no one is being serious enough, honest enough, that it's all too revved, too intense, and yet too shallow." Campaign strategists "treat every crisis as if it is a political fact to be used for gain or loss, and not as a real crisis, something that deserves a response of gravity and seriousness." (More Barack Obama stories.)