This is what happens when you send a bunch of people to Washington, who act on their belief about how things are, rather than – you know – reality.  They come off as "surprised" all the time.  From The Left Coaster:

"I’ve asked why nobody saw it coming. It does say something about us not having a good enough pulse."
–Condi Rice, commenting on how Hamas’ victory caught the administration by surprise

"Steve, I don’t think anybody could have predicted that these people would take an airplane and slam it into the World Trade Center, take another one and slam it into the Pentagon; that they would try to use an airplane as a missile, a hijacked airplane as a missile."
–Condi Rice, May 16, 2002

And let’s not forget that nobody could have foreseen the levees breaking and causing a flood.

Take off the blinders — that’s my advice.