&gt; They said that about Obama, but he still got shit done.<p>Mostly in the first half-term, with a Democratic Congressional majority -- his signature legislative accomplishments (Affordable Care Act, ARRA) were achieved then.<p>&gt; The weird thing out our democracy is, it&#x27;s getting more democratic<p>No, its not.<p>&gt; even with pathetic turnout, the public exerts more of an influence on the news cycle, and that drives the political agenda.<p>There&#x27;s a number of forces steering things in between there, assuring that the impact that the news cycle has (because of the spin <i>on</i> the events, even if the public exerts more influence on which events get attention -- which is a dubious proposition, I think) reflects a fairly narrow set of biases held by the powerful.<p>There doesn&#x27;t seem to be any evidence that the substantive policy output of the political system is becoming better aligned with the strength of views in the public, such that the net effect of any of this would be &quot;more democratic.&quot;