The Messiah Complex And American Laziness

From Economist:
"...the cult of the presidency...Gene Healy argues that because voters expect the president to do everything, candidates promise far more than they can possibly deliver.

When they inevitably fail to keep their promises, voters swiftly become disillusioned. Yet they never lose their romantic idea that the president should drive the economy, vanquish enemies, lead the free world, comfort tornado victims, heal the national soul and protect borrowers from hidden credit-card fees.

No president in the modern era has raised expectations like Barack Obama, so he is unusually likely to disappoint. The polls already show signs of disillusion, especially among independent voters.

I don't buy the whole of Mr Healy's argument, but he makes some interesting points. To win a presidential election in America, you have to say things you know to be untrue...But the system rewards those who can peddle plausible snake oil, and excludes anyone who is scrupulous about telling the truth..."

TW: Americans concurrently bitch endlessly about government whilst generally expecting it to perform miraculously. The POTUS is at the apex of this phenomenon. We get what we pay for- cynical campaigning, fawning politicians and self-selected group of hubristic egomaniacs who would subject themselves to the electoral process.

If you want smaller government quit asking for more (i.e. don't whine if you cannot use your ATM card when the financial firms blow themselves up to the point of dysfunction) , if you want more government (i.e. F-22s, wars of choice, fat public service pensions, your streets spic and spanned etc.) then pay for it.

But most importantly do not expect our POTUS or your representative for that matter to somehow be irrationally endowed with super-human powers to fix everything given the utterly contradictory impulses of Americans to want everything whilst paying for little. We need to address this impulse, then the political behavior will change.