Governance Is Not the Same Thing As Action

In response to Sen. Hatch's stanch opposition to any tax increases in Obama's announcement to reduce the deficit, Ali Frick asks

How is it that fundamentally unserious people — people who do not want to govern and have no business governing — keep running for and winning governing office?

Because the constituents know he's governing; he's just not governing the way you want him to. And since they're right-wing and you're left-wing, that's exactly why they re-elect him. Reducing the deficit almost certainly means increasing taxes but battling another branch of the government, even if it means to stone wall, is a political tactic. And such tactics are used to manage the Union, even if management means preventing harmful policy. Especially if it means preventing harmful policy.