[Tolik]

    Victor Davis Hanson Ping ! 

       Let me know if you want in or out.

Links: FR Index of his articles:  http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=victordavishanson 
His website: http://victorhanson.com/     NRO archive: http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson-archive.asp

[G.Mason]

"The result of this petrified leadership is that while things are not nearly as bad as they seem, the public in its frustration feels they are far worse."

"Petrified leadership" and the continual onslaught of the petrified MSM propaganda machine.

[hershey]

This too shall pass. (Thanks for posting VDH. He puts it in a nutshell.)

[finnman69]

This angst has far less to do with leadership and far more with a culture of bad media, negative public stereotypes, and an unhealthy addiction to 'getting more stuff'.

[faireturn]

Hanson sums up by observing:

" --- the fatalism of a normally can-do public grows. Voters no longer trust once tight-fisted Republicans to balance the budget, while the old war party of Wilson, Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy is no longer credible on national security.
The voters want to both expand traditional domestic energy sources and to curtail consumption, but the two horn-locked parties see these solutions as either/or rather than compatible.

The result of this petrified leadership is that while things are not nearly as bad as they seem, the public in its frustration feels they are far worse. -- "

The time is ripe to throw out lock-horned republocrat 'leaders'.

I wonder who Hanson would like to see step forward..

[Sam Cree]

Nice article.

[sgtbono2002]

I am pretty sure this gas spike is here to stay, and that it may be partially driven by our voracious apetite for energy

The larger part of the spike is driven by the voracious apetite for profit by gas producers ,oil companies and speculators.

I know ---I know-- bring on the lovers of high gas prices telling me they can sell for anything they like.Its Capitolism.Its economics. Thats all well and good, They have the Gold Mine , we get the shaft.

[Eagles6]

save

[Milhous]

Usually such angst — less than half the population expresses confidence in the administration — would lead to the opposition's advantage. It hasn't, as the Democrats are offering no systematic alternative to meet the growing anguish.

Pollsters need to do a better job of discerning the true reasons behind falling presidential confidence instead of just parroting socialist left talking points about the higher price of gasoline. For instance, my sole source of discontent with Bush lies with his nomination of Miers.

[Red Boots]

True, Republican-endorsed tax cuts have led to more net federal revenue in 2005 than in 2001. Yet — even with the unanticipated costs of the 9/11 attack, the ongoing war and Hurricane Katrina — if the Bush administration had kept entitlement spending to Bill Clinton's levels (with small increases for inflation), we would today have a balanced budget and a small surplus.

*sigh*

Instead, 2001-2005 marked the wildest growth in nondiscretionary domestic outlay in our recent history. Even with an expanding economy, vast amounts of new federal income could not keep pace with even more vast expenditures.

**Big sigh**

[SuzyQue]

"...the two horn-locked parties see these solutions as either/or rather than compatible...The result of this petrified leadership is that while things are not nearly as bad as they seem, the public in its frustration feels they are far worse. "

While this may indeed be true, I think that it a natural response to the lifting of the information monopoly that the MSM has held for so long.  With new, opposing sources of news, information and opinions available, many of us are questioning and rejecting "commonly-held beliefs" that we had accepted (albeit with some conflicting feelings and free-floating suspicion) in the past.  This has lead to a healthy difference of opinion and political fractiousness, but which can cause anxiety and frustration in those who are not comfortable with questioning the status-quo (which pretty much requires abandoning "political correctness", since PC is a means to squelch any meaningful exchange of ideas.)