Busybody politicians focus on headlines over policy

With media attention trained on the regular circus of federal politics, politicians have been all too happy to play along. But not everything that’s in a headline should be answered with a self-important hearing or result in presidential action.

Take, for example, the two stories dominating the news cycle: a college cheating scandal and the potentially deadly flaw in some Boeing planes. Both have generated plenty of interest from politicians, and that’s to be expected: They deal directly with education and safety, issues that Americans care deeply about.