The adulation of the presidency and the romanticization of politics hurts the process. I wish we had a figurehead monarchy like Britain; I’d be happy to have King Barack and Queen Michelle as inspiring, unifying, powerless royals. They’re attractive people who can give good speeches. Then we could be hard-nosed and skeptical about the real business of politics, which is not honorable, nor is it public “service.” Government should be like a visit to a proctologist: an unfortunately necessary, painful, but thankfully rare intrusion into our lives. There should be no romance surrounding it, and only the most basic dignity due to other human beings.