One day a majority of minorities may put the Democrats permanently on top. But not yet in boxing they call it the tale of the tape. Before battle is joined, fight fans and managers compare the height, weight, reach, and record of the contestants. This, roughly, is the equivalent moment in American politics. One year out from a presidential election is the point at which big strategic decisions about the shape of the forthcoming fight are being made. It iso the time when a bad strategic decision can turn out to be fatal. Is the campaign to re-elect Barack Obama about to make a mistake of this kind? One person who thinks it might be is Bill Galston, a former member of Bill Clinton’s White House. He has just explained why in a paper for the Bookings Institution, of which he is now a senior fellow. However, to understand his worries you need first to look back more than a year at a different argument set forth by an