Your Mind Is on Vacation (But Your Voters Are Working Overtime)

For many years pundits opined that Americans liked divided government--a Democrat in the White House and a Republican-controlled House, say--as they felt it provided yet another sense of checks and balances, assuming that the extreme tendencies of either party would get cancelled out.

Well, Americans have recently gone themselves one better. Now we seem to believe it's best to vote for a government that holds positions and will fight for policy that we don't agree with ourselves so we can get cancelled out. The New York Times report on the latest Times/CBS News poll claims: "Americans are at best ambivalent about Mr. Bush's plans to reshape Social Security, rewrite the tax code, cut taxes and appoint conservative judges to the bench. There is continuing disapproval of Mr. Bush's handling of the war in Iraq, with a plurality now saying it was a mistake to invade Baghdad in the first place."

However, the poll also showed that Americans did like the color ties Mr. Bush chooses to wear, believe Colin Powell "wasn't that scary for a black man," are pleased as punch that the Bushes took in Miss Beazley to pal around with Barney, and that many plan on deep-frying their Thanksgiving turkeys indoors in small apartments while decorating flammable artificial Christmas trees.