I have been thinking lately about politicians who go on about their sensitivity to, and instinct for, the pulse of the common man.

A boast that no doubt hints at heightened situational awareness and an inborn ability to respond appropriately, effectively and tactfully to any high-pressure situation.

“Politicians with their ears so close to the ground they’ve got crickets in it,” as an old American saying goes.

Among the fascinating relatives of the noun “instinct” is the German term “Fingerspitzengefühl.” Taken literally, it means a physical skill controlled by the nerves in the extremities, as in a craftsman who lathes metal to astounding tolerances.

Germans say the Desert Fox, General Erwin Rommel, had this gift on the battlefield. In his book “Inside the Third Reich,” Hitler’s armaments minister, Albert Speer, tells us Der Führer talked a lot about his own “Fingerspitzengefühl.” Well, maybe not so much after Stalingrad. or the D-Day landings at Normandy instead of the Pas de Caleigh.

Both terms suggest that, in addition to any processing of information the person may be doing, he or she is automatically spinning cognitive threads between different pieces of information as they arrive.

The term is only figurative, of course, and cannot by itself paint a realistic picture of the ability being described. It is cognitively related to possession of multiple intelligences, especially those pertinent to visual and spatial data processing.

One of the functions of a map is to help travelers decide upon a course of action that works to get them from one point to another. In times of war, the terrain, the troops, and the weapons deployed can change much more rapidly than cartographers can change their maps. A leader with Fingerspitzengefühl would hold such a map in their mind, and adjust it by incorporating any significant information received.

Even when there is no physical connection between, say, the politician in Washington, D.C., and his or her constituents, it is as if they are telling us that they have their own sensitive presence in each spot.

Hooey! I’m sorry, but I do not see any such shining out of any of the present crop of politicians we have planted, watered and sustained. As a result, I have lost almost all faith in any one of those suckers who claims to possess the gift.

Day after day, I see them on the tube — many unaccountably wealthy beyond the dreams of avarice — pushing incendiary and more than a few flat-out boneheaded ideas I can only assume their instinct or Fingerspitzengefühl has assured them we all want.

You know, like dismantling Social Security and Medicare? Funny thing there. I can’t say I know of anybody who wants these things to go away. Same with the recent attempts to weaken or kill libraries and museums, or to remove Harriet Tubman’s name from the website about the Underground Railroad.

I’m sure there are people out there who have convinced themselves these are good things, but what in God’s name gave them the idea we’d want that?

Either their instincts have fizzled, or they’ve lost all the Gefühling in their Fingerspitzen, or they’re acting under the influence of something or someone else.

What do you think? Write us. We’d love to hear from you.

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Robert Whale can be reached at robert.whale@auburn-reporter.com.