News that MSNBC talk shows – Maddow, Matthews, Hayes and the others – took a ratings dive recently underscores my own frustration and “issues fatigue.”
We watch MSNBC to share feelings of triumph and possibility and as a buffer for our outrage. Six months after the 2012 election, with the political process slogging along, our attention drifts.
How worked up can we get about the “Obama scandals” at the IRS and Justice Department? Must we really suffer through another discussion about historical and inevitable second-term missteps and whether this president has been “weakened?”
I’ll admit to paying less attention lately to the big stuff as well: immigration, Guantanamo, sequester and drones. I’m even dragging my feet on more esoteric material which usually holds my interest: the five appointments to the National Labor Relations Board that Senate Republicans appear certain to block.
I’m not just less inclined to tune in MSNBC but find myself switching stations on my car radio from NPR news to a ball game or to classical music. Or, instead of clicking through for detailed analysis when scanning my regular sites – Salon, Daily Beast, American Prospect – I’ll pick up a dusty old hardcover from my bookcase.
I go through these withdrawal periods from time to time. Particularly when the political situation is most bleak: after Bush beat Kerry ten years ago and after the Republicans took back the House in 2010.
Uncharacteristic and alarming, however, is that I’m feeling especially moody about politics during a period when Democrats allegedly have the power to govern.
Political appointees in this administration have overreached and their actions have been “uncovered” by a dogged press and a voracious opposition. Now we have to watch as this familiar pattern plays out.
The audience gets restless as it becomes more apparent that Barack Obama’s good intentions and conciliatory nature can’t end the lockdown of the American political system.
And – unfortunately for our friends at MSNBC – we start flipping channels.