Americans favor universal health care -- until anyone tries to pass it

By Ezra Klein

Between 2001 and 2008, the public overwhelmingly believed that it was the federal government's "responsibility" to guarantee all Americans health-care insurance. Then, in 2009 and 2010, President Obama and the Democrats tried to make it the federal government's responsibility. You can guess what happened next:

Sometimes, the public gets mad at Washington because politicians never do what they say they're going to do. And other times, the public gets mad at Washington because politicians do exactly what they say they're going to do. From the perspective of the politicians, it must be quite confusing.