Judging from polls and personal interviews , half the public seems to believe that there is some sort of " common sense " solution , involving no major cuts or tax hikes , which is eluding politicians only because they 're a bunch of partisan jerks .
Equally , though , bin laden 's success in eluding capture while issuing about 30 messages in video , audio or text form fed into his own extremist mythology as an islamist leader who was able to defy the might of the west .