In pretty much every executive job I've ever had there were many, many senior staff meetings where managers competed to restate the same problem over and over again, and then adjourn the meeting convinced that "someone" (not them) was going to take care of it.

Inevitably at the next meeting the same senior staff were cranky/frustrated that no one had fixed whatever the problem was.

It was here that I found a sure-fire way to make myself hugely unpopular with my fellow managers at every workplace: keep detailed notes and...

...after each item was discussed, go around the room and ask who specifically was going to do what.

Everywhere I worked I learned the same thing:

pretty much every manager wanted to *look* smart and *sound* insightful, and almost none of them wanted to do the actual work of fixing problems. They all saw themselves as quarterbacks who wanted to be seen heroically flinging the ball down field...to no one.

Also, you'd be amazed how quickly EVERY problem becomes a tech problem once you start trying to hold people even minimally accountable.

This is some of the experience I bring to writing about politics and the media. Everyone knows what the problems are. Everyone knows how deeply rooted those problems are. Everyone knows how fanatically Team Evil will fight to make sure those problems are not fixed.

But restating the obvious over and over again doesn't accomplish anything.