President Obama called for a 'we' nation in his Inauguration Address. Art convenes. It is not just inspirational. It is aspirational. It pricks the walls of our compartmentalized minds opens our hearts and makes us brave. And that's what we need most in our country today.

I think that the reason for my success is that I am really not aspirational. I am inspirational in that the people at home feel like they can really relate to me.

As a real person he wouldn't last a minute would he? But drama is about imperfection. And we've moved away from the aspirational hero. We got tired of it it was dull. If I was House's friend I would hate it. How he so resolutely refuses to be happy or take the kind-hearted road. But we don't always like morally good people do we?

My culture-deprived aspirational mother dragged me once a month from our northern suburb - where the word art never came up - to the Art Institute of Chicago. I hated it.