The new media can certainly react more quickly than the old media did. But speed is not always a virtue. Rushing to be first can mean rushing bad information into publication—particularly if, say, the information is based on one source that doesn't know as much as he or she thinks. And for all of the policy expertise some of us brought to the discussion, most of us—and I’d certainly put myself at the top of the list—were and still are relative novices at covering the political process itself.

Cohn and Ezra Klein were invaluable resources for me in understanding the debate, and I think he gives a pretty decent assessment of the strengths and weaknesses in the media's coverage, though he doesn't address how the debate was covered like a horse race by much of the news media, and what effect that had on the eventual product.

This hand drawn presentation won Slideshare's 2009 "Best Presentation in the World." The pictures are cute, and make the information feel accessible. But the real success lies in:

- Perfectly sized nuggets of information. Each section had a dominant visual metaphor and was self-contained.
- A narrative that doesn't get wrapped up in analogy or example.

If political debate in Washington was actually debate, rather than a series of talking points slapped on top of each other, then Democrats might think to confront their colleagues and town hall provocateurs with this chart. Mind blowing.