Deciding that you know better than the public does what you should do for them is extreme arrogance. And it is a direct route to unpopularity.
Why do presidential administrations get caught up in this trap? I have no idea. Modern polling makes learning the public's wishes as easy as falling off a log. It isn't all that expensive either.
Nobody wants to spend all their time working on oil spills, nor are such catastrophes particularly predictable. There is, however, nothing keeping the White House from learning the public's non-disaster wishes and then focusing upon them.
This isn't rocket science, friends along the Potomac. Let's get with the program.
