Through my various relations and connections, I got a chance to write something a bit more considered about what is going on with this election, this technology, and the rising culture of participation. The work will be posted over on The Blogging of the Predidency in three parts. Part one -- how we got here -- is up now. Check it out and drop a comment over on the BOP site: 21st Century Democracy; my perspective:

The game of 21st Century Participatory Democracy has different rules from what has come before. The people are producers of the political process, not just consumers. You can call it an old thing or you can call it new, but the bottom line is that this time around everyone's a tycoon if they want to be; everyone's a player if they deal themselves in.

But you know I'm no Paul Krugman. Here's the knockout closer from his latest:

The prevailing theory among grown-up Republicans — yes, they still exist — seems to be that Mr. Bush is simply doing whatever it takes to win the next election. After that, he'll put the political operatives in their place, bring in the policy experts and finally get down to the business of running the country... But I think they're in denial. Everything we know suggests that Mr. Bush's people have given as little thought to running America after the election as they gave to running Iraq after the fall of Baghdad.

In the parlance of my youth: burn!