Face it folks; no politician in either party thinks we can ever balance the budget again. If they did they would not be engaged in bitter battles about how to shave a mere $200 Billion off a deficit that totals $1002 Billion. What about the fiscal cliff which both sides fear like it was Armageddon? It only reduces the red ink by $464 Billion leaving a hole of more than half a Trillion dollars. If cutting spending and increasing revenues enough to reduce the deficit to $538 Billion will crash the economy and send us all to financial ruin how in the hell can we ever get it to zero?
Yes, most of the politicians suck - but what we really have is a people problem. Look at most any poll, people will say they think government should be reduced, but then oppose every specific cut other than maybe prisons and foreign aid (tiny amounts of the overall problem). True, there are very few inspirational leaders who want to do the right thing, but what passes for the American public these days has no will to cut much of anything.
The politician that tries to stand up and do the right thing finds precious little support among their constituents. Heck, talk about reforming or slimming down Medicare and Social Security at a Tea Party meeting and see what happens. Even among the best conservatives there is surprisingly little will to scale down big ticket items like that. Most people feel they've paid into it and want their share. It's almost always other people's stuff that should be cut. And hey, once a system is established it's hard to fault people for fighting for their piece of the pie.
I rather suspect the lack of will means we will follow Europe's example and keep kicking the can down the road. One day it will catch up with us and the whole economic house of cards will implode, but that could be a ways off.