Geoff;
I agree with Mr. Bradley. It was a thoughtful post. I thought about it and if I may be so bold I’ll offer you my perspective:
To me cynicism is healthy. It means you’re paying attention. Idealism could get you killed; or at least eternally disappointed, until the cynicism sets in. 
For the sake of your sanity, don’t expect too much from our leaders. They are as flawed as everyone else. The only real difference is they have a bigger ego, and often a “better” (ie. Ivy League) education. But that doesn’t make them any wiser, or less prone to act in their own self-interest, than the average person.
When it comes to choosing a new leader, my advice is to pick the one you think will do the least harm to our way of life. As flawed as this country is, it works very well, and better than most (if not all?) other countries, at providing a decent way of life for the majority of its people.
That is why I would pick a McCain over Obama, because McCain appears to “get it” about the need to preserve our way of life. Obama and his crowd seem to think they can somehow improve our society by getting rid of the evil in man’s soul (his wife told me so). Scary hubris.
In summary: Don’t expect perfection from imperfect people. There has never been a perfect society, and there probably never will be. What there has been, is much misery created by those who had the conceit to believe they could create one.
