As a highly partisan Democrat, my comments should be taken with a huge grain of salt. But here are some of my random observations.

Republicans lost the debate on taxes.

Reagan's policies of tax cuts did well for him, not because cutting taxes is an inherently good thing, but because he cut taxes when they were too high. However, for many people in the Republican party, tax cuts are an absolute good, regardless of other factors. When you consider the many challenges the next president will face and the growing national debt, blind support of any and all tax cuts and a starve the beast mentality to fiscal policy is a losing position.

And fighting for flatter tax brackets is also dangerous game. It can make Republicans look like tools of the wealthy. If you can demonstrate upper bracket tax rates are dragging down the economy, then it can be a winning arguement, but blind faith supply side economic theory regardless of the real world conditions is a loser.

Progressive taxation is rooted in pretty basic economic theory...my first dollar earned is not as valuable as my 250,000th dollar earned. So Republicans need to start explaining why they think particular tax rates are optimal and relate it to reality. Simply saying "It's unfair someone has to pay a higher percentage!" or "Lower is always, always better" let Obama get the advantage on taxes.

Obama explained why he thought the middle class needed a tax cut and the wealthiest needed to pay more. Obama sold it in the context of the current economic situations, which McCain was unable to do.