Every time I hear some bit of political news from not-too-democratic countries like Russia or China, I think how well George Orwell diagnosed their problem with the truth.

Now the Chinese approach to censoring information is a little blunt and Soviet, but the Russian take on truth is a slightly more nuanced cloak of misinformation, in a kind of Republican sort of way.

In fact, the latest Russian spin on Obama's presidency  is - get this! - the fact that Americans elected a black president is a sign that the U.S. is weak and getting more chaotic. Now that's not the explicitly stated official line, but it's being planted into people's minds by various so-called "observers," who are not very independent these days at all.

And here we are, thinking along with the rest of the world that we're that much stronger because of what Obama's election and presidency mean for our democracy. Silly us!