Michaele Salahi and Obama: Impostor Meets Impostor

The photograph is now famous: Michaele Salahi in a red sari shaking hands with Obama in the Blue Room, as her husband, Tareq, in a tux, watches from the side. Michaele's fingernails are impeccably manicured. Smiles are plastered on the faces of all three persons.

I am revolted by this picture, but what has me troubled? No, it is not the failure of the Secret Service; they will learn from their mistake.

Rather, I am disturbed by the hypocrisy, the insincerity and the deception: Reality TV hopefuls greeting a president who lacks the experience and leadership qualities needed to guide the U.S. and the world through troubled times. Reality TV? Obama? All part and parcel of an era which grows more alien to me with every passing day.