I know a little about the bubble; I’ve seen it from the inside. As an alumna of President George W. Bush’s senior staff, I’d say that we succeeded in pulling back the curtain some of the time—and failed miserably other times. In certain instances, our failures were due to incompetence, and at other points, we failed to grasp the depth and breadth of public sentiment. In early 2005, when the public was growing frightened and discouraged by the violent events and images coming out of Iraq, we squandered the president’s political capital with a failed attempt to reform Social Security instead of shoring up support for the difficult days ahead in Baghdad with frequent and straightforward assessments of the challenges there. In all cases, the consequences of being out of touch with the American public were devastating.

David Axelrod can read a poll better than I can, so he understands that the public opposition to Obama’s top domestic agenda item—the health-care push—is far more than a right-wing conspiracy. But the White House’s failure to recognize the authenticity and decency of its political opponents is dangerous. According to Frank Newport of the respected Gallup surveys, “most Americans do not believe that the U.S. health-care system is in a state of crisis. The economy outweighs health care as the most pressing problem facing the country and in Americans’ personal lives.”