Democrats, please write 100 times: People do not vote on issues.

I've said this before, haven't I? Dems keep nominating cortex candidates while Republicans go all lizard-brain. Except that this time we didn't, even if it was by the skin of our teeth. And by choosing Obama over Clinton, we finally have a candidate who communicates emotion, not policy. Obama is our Reagan, according to George Lakoff.

And here's why it matters so much. Democrats, can we please learn this lesson once and for all and not backslide next time with a Hillary or Kerry or Gore or Dukakis?

First of all, 98 percent of our reason is unconscious; it's what our brain is doing when we're busy being conscious.

Second, it turns out that you can't be rational without being emotional; emotional is necessary for rationality.

In politics, this means that people don't vote on issues. Lakoff again:

Ronald Reagan learned from all of this that people vote not on the basis of positions on issues and on programs but on five things. Namely, values, communication and connection, trust, authenticity (do you tell the truth), and identity (do you identify with the candidate). Obama understood that, and ran his campaign that way. Clinton ran on the basis of positions on issues, and bored people, basically. She didn't run on those five things. Now, Obama had the positions on issues and all the experts, but that's not how he ran his operation against Clinton.

Note please: Obama had the policies; he just didn't run on them.

Lakoff mentions other interesting things like "mirror neurons," and why we feel comfortable when we see Obama and why McCain makes us tense. But the take-home message is, thank God we nominated Obama.