Two thousand eight was a dreadful year. Long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were going badly. The U.S. "subprime crisis" was strangling the global economy. Rising food prices were causing concern at best, riots at worst. The worse things got, the more helpless the world's democratic leaders showed themselves to be. Their low support ratings reflected surging public disgust. That was even before the so-called "Lehman Shock," which looked at the time like the end of the economy as we know it, and may yet prove to have been just that.
There was one bright spot — a flash of light named Barack Obama, who won the American presidency that year by insisting, repeatedly and with conviction, "Yes, we can!" If you say it loudly enough, smile charismatically enough, punch the air vigorously enough, people may believe it — the need for belief is that strong.
Perhaps the letdown was inevitable. It's upon us now, no need to describe it, and anyway this column isn't about Obama at all but about "Yes, we can!"