Over the years, as we grow in age and wisdom, we usually learn the hard way about the difficult consequences of placing our faith in, or “worshiping” a flawed human being.

These individuals are usually presented to us as the greatest thing since sliced bread.  Unfortunately, time and time again, they fail to live up to the hype.

Example #1:

On June 3, 2008, Democratic Candidate for President, Barack Hussein Obama spoke the following words to an audience in St. Paul, Minnesota:

America, this is our moment. This is our time, our time to turn the page on the policies of the past…

(APPLAUSE) … our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face, our time to offer a new direction for this country that we love.

The journey will be difficult. The road will be long. I face this challenge — I face this challenge with profound humility and knowledge of my own limitations, but I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people.

Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that, generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless…

(APPLAUSE)

… this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal…

(APPLAUSE)

… this was the moment when we ended a war, and secured our nation, and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth.

(APPLAUSE)

This was the moment, this was the time when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves and our highest ideal.

That was then.  This is now (yesterday).

Fitch Ratings kept its pristine AAA rating on the U.S. on Monday, but the credit-ratings company downgraded its outlook to “negative” in the wake of the Supercommittee’s failure to find $1.2 trillion in spending cuts.

The development, which had been hinted at last week, could have been worse for the U.S. as McGraw-Hill’s (MHP: 41.20, +0.66, +1.63%) Standard & Poor’s slashed its credit rating for the first time ever in August.

However, the negative outlook indicates a “slightly greater” than 50% chance that Fitch downgrades the U.S. over the next two years.

“Failure to reach agreement in 2013 on a credible deficit reduction plan and a worsening of the economic and fiscal outlook would likely result in a downgrade of the U.S. sovereign rating,” David Riley, a managing director at Fitch, said in the report.

Fitch warned that its revised fiscal projections call for federal debt held by the public to exceed 90% of gross domestic product and debt interest payments making up more than 20% of total tax revenues by the end of the decade.

“In Fitch’s opinion, such a level of government indebtedness would no longer be consistent with the U.S. retaining its ‘AAA’ status despite its underlying strengths,” Riley said.

Example #2:

Miley Cyrus became a TV star at the age of 13 as the title character in the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana. Cyrus is the oldest daughter of country music star Billy Ray Cyrus, who topped the charts in 1992 with “Achy Breaky Heart.” Miley Cyrus began performing at an early age, and by the age of 9 was embarking on a professional career. Prior to Hannah Montana she had a handful of jobs, most notably a small part in Tim Burton’s Big Fish (2003, starring Ewan McGregor). After a series of auditions that began when she was 11, Cyrus landed the lead role of Hannah Montana, a teen pop star who leads a double life as an average schoolgirl. Her dad, Billy Ray, was chosen to play her widowed father in the TV series, and the entire Cyrus family moved from Nashville, Tennessee to southern California to encourage Miley’s career. The show was a hit during its long run from 2006 to 2011. The instant success of her television series led to a record deal for Cyrus, whose husky singing voice was often featured in the show. In October of 2006 the soundtrack to Hannah Montana, featuring eight songs by Miley and a duet with her father, debuted at number one on Billboard’s Top 200 chart. The album Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus was released in 2007, and Cyrus toured the country in a successful Hannah Montana concert series. The 2008 film Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour was a hit, and Hannah Montana: The Movie took in $34 million on its opening weekend in 2009, proving that Cyrus was still a very popular star. Also in 2009, at age 16, she published the memoir Miles to Go.

Once again, that was then.  This is now.

Cyrus stunned well-wishers at her 19th-birthday party, happily telling them she’s a pot-loving “stoner.”

“You know you’re a stoner when your friends make you a Bob Marley cake,” said the “Hannah Montana” star during her the bash last week at Hollywood’s Roosevelt Hotel.

“You know you smoke way too much f–king weed!” she exclaims on footage from the birthday bash obtained and first aired yesterday by the iPad newspaper The Daily.

But her rep insisted “It’s all been taken out of context.”

In an interview with Us Weekly, her rep said “The cake was a joke and Miley’s response was intended to be sarcastic.”

Cyrus, who turned 19 Wednesday, caught heat last year when video emerged of her using a bong to inhale what she claimed was salvia, the controversial — but legal — hallucinogenic herb.

The singer’s pal and party host, Kelly Osbourne, was standing next to the birthday gal when she made her unexpected pot proclamation. Osbourne laughed and chirped: “I thought salvia was your problem!’

The new “Britney Spears” is finding her star fading fast as her last movie tanked and her latest album’s sales are very disappointing.

However, Ms. Cyrus’ failures pale in comparison to that of example #1’s.

And they’re also not nearly as hazardous to America’s future.