My first "Obama moment" was Ross Perot. He was a rich guy that got fed up with politics as usual, and decided to run completely unaffiliated. His big thing was energy policy, and getting us off foreign oil. This was back in 1992, before you were born.

But, it turns out he was an indignant little dick, who couldn't take criticism. He got all huffy and just scooped up all his marbles and went home suddenly.

It was the first time - before Obama - that I felt there was actually hope for the Government. That it might get wrested from the grasp of the corporations that use Government as the hand-crank on their own personal money printing machines.

There were brief glimpses of happiness when Bill Clinton co-opted a couple of interesting Republican programs, and then got them passed. That led to the big dotcom boom.

Then there was excitement and hope that Obama would lead us to a new kind of government. But - as is always the case - people vote for Democratic Presidents, and Republican Legislators and Senators.

Because when it comes right down to it, we all want to believe in a bigger, more fluffy and embracing American Dream kind of world, so we vote Democrats into the White House. But then when it comes to raising taxes to pay for the roads and the infrastructure and transit systems, we balk at adding $26/year to our house taxes, and vote for Republicans locally, who promise not to raise our taxes.

So we, being voters, are stupid, basically.