Remember that wonderful evening on November 4, 2008, when Barack Obama appeared on stage in Chicago's Grant Park and gave a stirring election victory speech in front of 250,000 cheering, weeping, ecstatic supporters (including Oprah) and millions more around the globe watching on TV?

America was united and the world jubilant that George W Bush was packing up his Lego set back at the White House and would ride off into the sunset hopefully never to be seen or heard of again.

Kanye West takes the microphone from singer Taylor Swift as she accepts her award. Credit:AP

It was such an exciting time.

What I would like to know is what the hell happened in the past week?