One of the themes I visit over and over again is the difference between tactics and strategy. I keep ringing this bell because the two ideas aren’t particularly well understood in the political realm.

I suspect this misunderstanding is largely based on two quirks of politics. The first is that very few politicians ever bother to think strategically. Pols tend to be such short-term thinkers that they’re all tactics, all the time. They want to finesse this vote or win that news cycle; they’re rarely playing a long game.