We're at a point where elections aren't about telling the truth

If there's one thing that's funny about American politics, it's how little insight most people have.

Democrats never really understood why Ronald Reagan was so popular in the 1980s, and Republicans cannot comprehend how Bill Clinton (a philanderer) and Barack Obama (a liberal --to them -- and a Negro to boot) were able to win election and re-election by fairly comfortable margins.

To Democrats, Reagan succeeded by telling sweet stories about a long-gone America and saying we could have it back. I'm not sure the people who loved Reagan really believed him, but it's certainly fair to say they wanted to believe him.

He ran for president at a time when the American spirit was depressed, and he won by telling a lie that all candidates since him have echoed.

Ron, Nancy and Jacko

"America's best days are ahead of us."

Reagan's two terms saw a lot of positive things happen. The years 1981-89 were pretty much the last ones in which people believed Michael "Jacko" Jackson was a nearly normal person.

But more importantly, what happened was the beginning of something that has lasted up to this day, a tax system that let the richest Americans keep more and more of their money.

Republicans were able to get voters to believe that if wealthy people were taxed less, they would be able to spend more on products and services, which would enable those providing those products and services to make more money themselves.

Only it didn't work that way. Reagan said a rising tide would lift all boats, but too many Americans were boatless and barely stayed afloat. But when the Democrats challenged the policy, they sounded negative and Reagan kept on smiling. Just as Gilbert and Sullivan sang about the "very model of a modern major general," Reagan looked just like people thought a president should.

George H.W. Bush even got one term in the White House out of it, but by 1992, the economy was struggling and Bill Clinton rode campaign manager James Carville's slogan all the way to the White House.

Republicans couldn't understand why people liked Clinton. After all, he had woman troubles, with story after story about affairs he may or may not have had.

But Clinton was the first Democrat to learn the lessons of Reagan, that an optimistic outlook, a big smile and a healthy dose of charisma could carry a candidate a long way. He beat Bush, who always seemed a little out of touch, and then Bob Dole, who looked like what he really wanted to say was "You kids get off my lawn."

Elections since then have shown that the candidate who seems more human, more upbeat about the future wins. Call it what you want -- the "have a beer question," or something like it -- but elections seem to have become less about the platforms and more about star quality.

Obama winning in 2008 was no surprise. The economy had fallen so far under George W. Bush that any Democrat could have won that year, but Republicans were stunned they couldn't topple him in 2012. They might have, except that their candidate seemed even less human than Dole had.

Mitt Romney would have had an uphill battle anyway, but his comments about the 47 percent who were dependent on the government made him seem completely heartless.

So Obama won, and now both parties are looking to 2016. It will be interesting to see who the nominees are, and which party follows the lesson of the last 36 years and nominates an upbeat, charismatic candidate. I'm a Democrat who doesn't believe Hillary Clinton will run in 2016; she will be 69 years old before Inauguration Day, and that's just too old. Reagan showed us that.

The one thing I'll guarantee about the 2016 election is that whoever runs, they will be telling us the same lie everyone since Reagan has been telling us.

"America's best days are ahead of us."

I wonder how long it will take before a candidate can tell us the truth and still have a chance to win.