# Why the armchair campaign strategy analyzing (instead of) armchair analyzing of political programs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [December 11, 2011, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-armchair-campaign-strategy-analyzing-instead-of-armchair-analyzing-of-political-programs/605846 "2011-12-11T20:53:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-armchair-campaign-strategy-analyzing-instead-of-armchair-analyzing-of-political-programs/605846/21 "2012-05-03T15:32:05Z")
> [@gamerunknown](#): > > If I had to guess, it’s getting harder to convince people that the politicians are acting in their interests. One thing that makes it hard for people to trust politicians is the degree of difficulty of delivering on a political promise, due to what **Evil Captor** said about the Senate. Even though Obama’s win was accompanied by the winning of huge majorities in Congress, he could only pass a stimulus bill that at least two Republican Senators would agree to. The media do a lousy job of explaining this sort of thing to their audience, so the political obstruction is basically invisible to the average American. So they think that so-and-so in the White House just isn’t keeping his promises. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-armchair-campaign-strategy-analyzing-instead-of-armchair-analyzing-of-political-programs/605846/22 "2012-05-04T02:31:37Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > If the media actually evaluated the candidates positions and reported on those, what would they do the next day? I would write stories on how similar policies have worked out when tried elsewhere. There’s a **lot** of material there, always. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-armchair-campaign-strategy-analyzing-instead-of-armchair-analyzing-of-political-programs/605846/23 "2012-05-04T03:44:42Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > If the media actually evaluated the candidates positions and reported on those, what would they do the next day? The news sources need new material every single day… There is a segment of the news audience who seek to be the best informed people in the world. There is another segment who seek reassurance. The latter won’t be interested in serious policy discussion and will likely find it upsetting. You can see this in the global warming debate: some can’t cogitate that melting glaciers don’t have political bias, even if that _feels_ unfair to the Republicans. There are plenty of daily bloggers who stick mostly to policy and don’t emphasize how X affects the next election. Examples include Kevin Drum, Brad DeLong, Paul Krugman, Matthew Yglasias, Ezra Klein, Suzy Khimm, Stephen Lacey and Travis Waldron. There are more I trust. There is no shortage of substantial topics to discuss. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-armchair-campaign-strategy-analyzing-instead-of-armchair-analyzing-of-political-programs/605846/24 "2012-05-04T15:50:57Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > One thing that makes it hard for people to trust politicians is the degree of difficulty of delivering on a political promise, due to what **Evil Captor** said about the Senate. Even though Obama’s win was accompanied by the winning of huge majorities in Congress, he could only pass a stimulus bill that at least two Republican Senators would agree to. > > The media do a lousy job of explaining this sort of thing to their audience, so the political obstruction is basically invisible to the average American. So they think that so-and-so in the White House just isn’t keeping his promises. +1. I wish the media would wake up and hammer this point to the American people, get them angry at their elected officials. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-armchair-campaign-strategy-analyzing-instead-of-armchair-analyzing-of-political-programs/605846.md?page=1)