Election, of course

Chris Matthews doesn't know the Enneagram, but he asked Michelle Bachmann a pointedly specific question and she gave a non-answer, just sort of a series of platitudes. So he asked her the same pointed question and she gave him the same series. Exasperated, he asked if she was hypnotized.
She wasn't, but she is in a trance. Her trance is ideological, but the vivid exchange illustrated what a trance is: a trance is a set response that we give, no matter what the stimulus is. If I am a Six, really entranced (think Woody Allen), and I'm given a piece of news, I can predict that no good will come of this. I don't have a preset series of talking points like Bachmann, but I do have a default set of responses. If I am a Four, no matter what the situation, if I am really entranced, I will know that my emotions are the important factor. My mood triumphs "consensual reality."

Hint: to tell when the politicians are in a trance, watch for generalizations, not specifics. Lower taxes, but no specific cuts. "Get things done," but no practical plans. Sometimes it is even more sweeping: "No compromises."
Generalizations are how we hypnotize ourselves and keep our Enneagram trance. Individually, it's an enneagram style, politically it is ideology.