Matt Yglesias’s succinct explanation for why - with the economy falling apart, a worldwide food crisis, unending war in the Mideast and everything else - we continue to talk about character and lapel pins and the like:

Realistically, the number of people who have any awareness of “actual policymaking” is pretty tiny and I think most people mostly want to stay in the dark. People want to put in office people who they feel understand them and then forget about it. That’s why you see so much identity-driven voting, and that’s why an ability to make a large circle of people believe that you understand them is such a vital political skill.

I think that’s it, exactly. Indeed, I’d go a step further; we don’t merely want someone who understands us, we want someone like us.

The tragic thing is, none of the candidates remaining are anything like you and me.

I mean that primarily from an economic standpoint. The riches these folks possess; how can their interests possibly be akin to our own? They don’t understand you and they can’t understand you because they aren’t living from paycheck to paycheck, don’t have to worry about their health care, aren’t anywhere near as impacted by the prices at the pump, the list goes on and on. And to the extent they do understand, it’s from a theoretical standpoint only; they are not personally touched by the things that so impact your lives. And will never be.