After some thought, I believe I’ve boiled the problem with politics down to a concentrate easy to understand. Politicians’ main problem lies in the field of basic arithmetic. The logic found in addition and subtraction, to be precise.

One plus one always equals two and there isn’t anything you can do about it no matter how hard you try or how many people you might convince otherwise. Politicians won’t accept that simple fact in its many forms and disguises. This is why they are so often astounded by the obvious.