Embarrassment

I travel overseas often, mostly to Asia but in 2004 also to Central America and Europe. Not since the 70's, when I first went abroad and America was still struggling to recover its Vietnam-tarnished reputation, have I actually been embarrassed to be an American. The illegal, immoral, arrogant war in Iraq is bad enough, but the election--I've been overseas three time since early November--is even harder to explain. How is it possible that we have a lying President, a corrupt Vice President, a war-mongering Secretary of State and a torture-endorsing Attorney General, not to mention various other environment-destroying, impoverished-trodding and corporate-asskissing high officials? How did this happen?