First we have the ideological infantilization of the people. Everything is all about “core principles” of the ideology. It doesn’t matter which one is talking about … Left, Right, Up, Down, or Sideways … there is a strong compulsion to maintain ideological purity, at ANY cost. This of course means never acknowledging when the other side might have a good idea (which, objectively, DOES happen sometimes; even a broken clock is right, twice a day!) and broad-brush condemnation of everything about the “other” side, including vicious demonization of all persons involved. The facts don’t matter, only one’s ideology does, along with preventing any other ideology from doing anything. And whenever one feels that one’s ideology is getting “dissed,” these people react in juvenile fashion (e.g screaming at people at “town halls,” showing up at Obama events armed, staging violent rallies at G-20 meetings, etc.). They react this way because they do not really really understand anything beyond their basic immature, emotional connection with their chosen ideology; they don’t possess the knowledge to converse with anyone rationally or methodically deal with any problems.

Second we have a news media which is now more concerned with drama than with fact. This leads them to report things in ways they otherwise might not wish to, merely so they can exploit that drama. In the 90s, for example, the media on the whole (minus the occasional exception like Fox News) presented Clinton in a positive light. But when the Lewinsky scandal hit … Wham! They metaphorically body-slammed him, and were happy to do so, because the drama of an adultery story in the White House was just too good not to exploit. (This is not to say I approve of Clinton or dismiss what he did … I’m pointing out that the mass media turned on him, and did so in a huge, vicious way.)

So we have Obama marching into office earlier this year with high hopes and lots of plans. But when he hits snags … due to the drive for ideological purity and the emotional compulsion of the extremes of both Left and Right to yank at or intimidate him … this becomes a dramatic storyline for the mass media to report. Suddenly his presidency, which is less than a year old, is teetering on collapse … if you believe what’s being reported.

Most of it is all very overblown. New presidents having trouble setting an agenda and getting things done, is by no means new. It happens even to the best of them. In fact, the examples of Reagan or even FDR, who were able to push through their agendas quickly and with little rancor, are more the exception than the rule. But the mass media have fed into the idea that Obama is now completely paralyzed, befuddled, and impotent. That, however, is a conclusion which is not yet in evidence. We just don’t know yet how things will turn out for him. But the appearance of an impotent president is one the media cannot resist pushing — regardless of the facts — and it remains attractive to a large segment of the population … i.e. those who viciously hate him merely because he’s not a Rightist like them, as well as Leftists who are outraged that he’s being interfered with.

As I said, what this all means is that the country is ideologically infantilized, and the mass media are exploiting that infantilization for their own gain. None of it is good for the country, however.