Reality Check; You Can't Tell The Truth And Win

This country has many serious problems and will continue to have many serious problems no matter who is elected in Novemeber. Do we hear that from the candidates? The answer is NO. Bob Herbert's commentary in the NYT today, All the Pretty Words, gives us the reality check we won't get from any candidate or party and that includes Nader's never never land.

The facts facing the United States as George W. Bush and John Kerry joust for the presidency are too grim to be honestly discussed on the stump. No one wants to tell cheering potential voters that the nation has sunk so deep into a hole that it will take decades to extricate it. So the candidates are trying to outdo one another in expressions of sunny optimism.

There is Iraq:

You won't hear straight talk about this all-important matter [Iraq] from either camp. And you can forget the chatter about an exit strategy for American troops. There isn't one.

And then there is Afghanistan:

Not long ago American officials were claiming a decisive victory and the Bush administration was trumpeting the liberation of Afghan women from the clutches of the Taliban. But the proclamations of success were premature. Osama bin Laden and the Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar are nowhere to be found. Warlords and insurgents are in control of much of the country and the growth industry is the opium trade. The extraordinarily courageous group Doctors Without Borders is packing its bags and withdrawing from Afghanistan after 24 years because five of its staff members were murdered and the government will not bring the killers to justice. On Friday the U.S. government warned American citizens against traveling to Afghanistan because of the danger of being kidnapped or killed.

And Jobs and the economy:

....presidential candidates will not tell the voters the cold, hard truth. There are not nearly enough jobs available for the millions upon millions of unemployed and underemployed Americans who want and desperately need gainful employment. The population in need of jobs is expanding daily and no one has a viable plan for accommodating it. Families are being squeezed like Florida oranges as good jobs with good benefits - health insurance, paid vacations and retirement security - are going the way of the afternoon newspaper and baseball double-headers.

We won't hear any reality from the candidates because we are a nation of instant gratification and quick fixes and there is no politicain who could win by telling us the truth. Is this the fault of the politicians? I don't think so, we Americans are the ones who won't face reality.
Update
I cross posted this as a dKos diary and there were some good comments.