Listening to the "Right" People

I completely agree with Glenn Greenwald that the Washington elite live in an insular world that encourages a perception of the world that is completely at odds with the way the rest of America views the world. This is nothing new. I can still remember the first Sunday shows after the Lewinsky scandal broke where several elite commentators talked as if Clinton's resignation was a foregone conclusion.

That was until the first polls came out showing a significant bump in Clinton's approval ratings.

I suspect the insiders have reached the point where, even if they are aware of this disconnect, they don't care. They have calculated that it doesn't matter if the American people disagree with them because it is only the power players in Washington who have the real chance to change things. All that matters is how you influence them.

Reality inside the beltway matters more than reality outside the beltway because the inner reality is the only one that has a chance of making a real impact on these people. It's the only reality that can actually hurt them.

Or, at least, that's what they think. And we all know how good they are at assessing real danger.