Luis's recent coming out of the post-election head trauma coma post doesn't leave a whole lotta head left on the nail because he hit it so damn hard and square.

I have been shaking my head over the last few weeks myself. I go out amongst the electorate and mingle in the day-to-day activities we citizens of this morphing nation, from representative republic to government-driven socialist state under the guise of "democracy", and scoff in their faces as they bitch and moan about the economy, the prices at the pump and at the stores, their home energy bills, and whatever else is now out of their control by choice (Yeah, you voted for more free stuff, but wait until they start pushing you around telling you what you can and cannot do anymore.). If only you bitchers and moaners standing in line with me understood what is going on beneath the surface... Um, that would include the continuing chipping away of our Constitutional Bill of Rights by the "non-binding" (don't make me laugh) U.N. treaties (our tax dollars, our free speech, our gun rights, our communication rights, and even our disabled family members), with the blessing of the raunchy globalist/socialist emboldened "progressive" democrat party occupying the US Senate, the pussified GOP held US House, and the imperial White House. Ah, forgetaboutit! I am worn out from trying to learn yunz when it counted, prior to you walking into the voting booth and voting against the highly successful businessman that made hard and unpopular decisions to save and have businesses become successful and sustain employment for others simply because you were sold the "he's an evil white rich guy" mantra. No, you all figured the guy who never held a real job in his life, never made a decision he could be blamed man-up and take responsibility for, and taking credit for those he could be endlessly praised for (especially by his own telling over and over and over...), was the lesser of the two evils. Nicely played, you bastions of critical thinking. Nicely played.

Now, shut up...

Look, I don’t even know anymore. I’m just gonna put these out there for you as yet another indication of how tough getting anywhere close to solving our deficit and debt problems is. It’s a nice complement to the latest in the fiscal cliff saga, in which allegedly intractable, unreasonable Republicans offer a Simpson-Bowles-like compromise that might actually come within a couple ballparks of acknowledging our debt problems while Democrats seem rather enthusiastic about cliff-diving and yet the press and public are determined to blame Republicans for going over.

Let’s see if that can change in the near future. Presumably it should if the press reports that a realistic compromise is on the table that— hey, looky here— aligns with the public’s and the press’ professed desires, but early signs show it’s being treated unseriously in the press. Heck, even a plurality of Obama voters want the deficit dealt with by making more spending cuts than tax hikes:

A survey of 800 Obama voters, conducted last month by Benenson Strategy Group for the moderate Democratic think tank Third Way and shared first with POLITICO, finds that 96 percent believe the federal deficit is a problem and that 85 percent support increasing taxes on the wealthy.

Yet 41 percent who supported the Democratic incumbent want to get control of the deficit mostly by cutting spending, with only some tax increases, while another 41 percent want to solve it mostly with tax increases and only some spending cuts.

Just 5 percent of Obama supporters favor tax increases alone to solve the deficit, half the number who back an approach that relies entirely on spending cuts.

[...]

Meanwhile, according to polling by CNN, registered voters oppose Obamacare by a margin of 10 points — 52 to 42 percent. Independents like Obamacare even less, opposing it by a margin of 22 points — 57 to 35 percent. Clearly, voters didn’t think they were ratifying Obamacare when they pulled the lever for Obama.

[...]

The shift away from the view that the government should ensure healthcare coverage for all began shortly after President Barack Obama’s election and has continued the past several years during the discussions and ultimate passage of the Affordable Care Act in March 2010. Americans are divided on that legislation today — 48% approve and 45% disapprove — as they have been over the last several years.

Republicans, including Republican-leaning independents, are mostly responsible for the drop since 2007 in Americans’ support for government ensuring universal health coverage. In 2007, 38% of Republicans thought the government should do so; now, 12% do. Among Democrats and Democratic leaners there has been a much smaller drop, from 81% saying the government should make sure all Americans are covered in 2007 to 71% now.

[...]

One thing that has not changed is that Americans still widely prefer a system based on private insurance to one run by the government. Currently, 57% prefer a private system and 36% a government-run system, essentially the same as in 2010 and 2011. Prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, the percentage of Americans in favor of a government-run system ranged from 32% to 41%.

You Obama voters understand what you just did is a sign of insanity, right? Repeating a huge mistake and expecting different results. The rising prices on everything that you are paying are due to tax-hiking and regulation-slapping. Duh.

Anyhow, read the whole thing with Mary Katharine Ham's insight. She is more tenacious at this point than I am. My give-a-damn's busted right about now since I had a long conversation last night with my (1/2 way through third year) medical school daughter about how Obama's takeover of student loans inside ObamaCare has screwed her, and all other students, royally. She is only aware of it because, *gasp!*, she informs herself, pays attention to what's happening in this country, and thinks ahead about her personal responsibilities as an adult, and not just for today. I guess she's doing it all wrong...

As I said, Dana Milbank, now just shut up...

"My administration,” President Obama wrote on his first day in office, “is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in government.”

Those were strong and hopeful words. Four years later, it is becoming more and more clear that they were just words. [...]

Hell you say! Tell us more, almighty MSM scribe.