Americans complain about the lack of true leaders and of today's poll-driven politicians. But if American is a democracy, isn't that exactly how it is supposed to work?

George W Bush, lambasted as the destroyer of peace in the Middle East, may preside over the most welcome development there since the Second World War.

In many ways, Martin Luther King was a good man - certainly a highly intelligent man. Well read, well spoken, influential well beyond his life. But equal to all the Presidents of the nation?

The conservatives have rightly complained about the fiasco that was the CNN/YouTube debate, to say nothing of Chris Matthews' execrable moderating. Now the shoe is on the other foot, and it doesn't fit any better on that side.

The recent, less-than-informed coverage of the death of Benazir Bhutto reminds us of Neville Chamberlain's infamous comment about Czechsolovakia as " a faraway country about which we know nothing."

By taking this preposterous action, the CIA has provided a signal service.

Having been put on the scent, the blogosphere discovered that this was only the tip of the iceberg.

Unlimited money, unlimited visibility, unlimited clout - what could possibly go wrong?

Somehow, we have reached the point where we view democracy and elections as ends in themselves. But they aren't.

Why "Hillary"? In 1980, did we have a race between Ronald and Jimmy?