Nero and Rome burning

I was reminded these past two weeks of the old saying that Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Last week it was a Romney aide talking about the Etch-a-sketch and this week it is a remark made by a Obama aide about stay at home moms. Instead of taking about the deficit, the debt, entitlements and jobs (Rome burning) we are talking about fiddles. I can’t decide whether this is because this is what people want to talk about or is it what the news media want to talk about?