To win in November, Republican candidates must show they are in touch with voter concerns about growth, jobs, paychecks, government spending and debt. The only way to do this is by offering specific, persuasive ideas.

The Democratic Party's problem is that voters don't believe the president's claims that the economy is thriving. Even people with jobs feel apprehensive. Paychecks are flat, growth anemic, and people are worried about their children's prospects. Mr. Obama had a 38% approval on handling the economy in the Sept. 9 Fox News poll. In the Sept. 7 NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 67% believe America is on the wrong track.

Look, America was a narrowly divided country in 2000;49-49 was what Michael Barone called it. It's a 49-49 nation.

Would I like to see the Republican Party be the dominant party for whatever time history gives it the chance to be? You bet.

In Europe and the United States, you've got different systems to select candidates, and no system is perfect.

Our health-care issues is another big structural drag. All of these need to be dealt with if we're going to keep the American economy the most dynamic and flexible in the world.

So Americans do want their presidents, by and large, you want them to be people who get things done and have experience. That's going to be Trump's big disadvantage going into this election, because people are going to be looking back and saying, we've got the guy without the experience who said the things that sounded good. And guess what? That hasn't worked out for us too well.