The More Perfect Union

With two million Americans on the Capital Mall to witness the moment when hope and history rhymed, the peaceful transfer of power and inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States signaled the beginning of a new era.

How, in the grand swath of World history, might the Obama Era be defined?

Three hundred or five hundred years from now, it is possible that the Barack Obama Era will share political context with, and serve as direct counterpoint to, Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.

The sixty years separating Hitler and Obama will dissolve with time, and their sharp polar-opposites will serve as thesis and antithesis to help focus and synthesize the discourse of World history, especially each man's remark on global human evolution.

Hitler believed and propagated the ancient doctrine of the Aryan "master race" as justification for genocide and Holocaust.

Obama, himself a man of color, emphasized a doctrine of inclusion and the declaration that "all men are created equal".

Hitler died fearing that his own blood might be tainted, while his faulty eugenics theory resulted in horrific slaughter, crimes against humanity, and the widely-held viewpoint that his very name coincides with evil.

Obama initially criticized for "not being black enough", has effectively assimilated his own melting pot of roots into such a strong unified identify, that notions of racial inequality were shattered the day he became the most powerful man in the world.

Both men captured audiences with their rhetorical style and both men roused great public passion.

Hitler did so in speeches by exhorting an even greater, somewhat manic, passion-- calming in archival video footage only to slick his hair back into place.

Obama, used passion precisely during his ascent to office, pragmatically shape-shifting between cool debater and passionate orator.

The penultimate showcase of his oratorical range was his much-anticipated inaugural address that many considered complex, if not solemn.

In it, Obama channeled the cadence and nuances of speech of Martin Luther King Jr., as he transitioned before our eyes from a cool/rapturous campaigner to a patriarchal and pragmatic leader.

Lastly, both men are influenced by a musical nationalism.

Hitler was heavily influenced by the tragic Operas of German composer and anti-Semite Richard Wagner.

Cultural Historians argue that the Third Reich and Hitler's destruction was informed, if not made inevitable, based on his self-selected contextual lens of Wagnerian tragedy.

Obama in turn, is influenced by the Blues tradition of his culture and ancestry (as showcased during the Presidential "first dance"-- a Beyonce Knowles rendition of the Etta James/ Chess Records standard "At Last").

Southside Chicago's Chess Records (owned and operated by Jewish immigrants Leonard and Philip Chess) begat along with James, blues musician Muddy Waters who wrote "Rollingstone", which influenced Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, who have in turn influenced billions-- including Barack Obama (Gimme Shelter), so on and so forth.

Blues, with descendants Jazz, Rock n Roll, Hip Hop, R&B, Soul, Reggae (and all of their offshoots), mirrors the melting pot of America.

Princeton Professor Cornel West wrote that The Blues, more than just music, is an emotion or sensibility, which like pragmatism, is deeply embedded in American history.

West states that the blues tradition informs a "tragicomic" sensibility-- born of the absurd cruelties African Americans faced during their time on this continent-- "to carry on in the face of absurdity, to see the lightness in the dark, and to confront the impossible--with creative energy."

Like the melting pot he embodies, Obama appears to have a personal more perfect union, developed not from the ease of being one thing, but through the burden of synthesizing many things into one.

And by becoming the most powerful man in the world, he now presents a new evolutionary model.

In July 2008, as he stood at Hitler's favoured monument to German supremacy, the Tiergarten Victory Column, Obama came to Germany with a message which, underemphasized during the general election, will now regain prominence-- World citizenship.

“Yes, there have been differences between America and Europe. “No doubt, there will be differences in the future. But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together... In this new century, Americans and Europeans alike will be required to do more — not less. Partnership and cooperation among nations is not a choice; it is the one way, the only way, to protect our common security and advance our common humanity.”

Thus, Obama, like Hitler before him, will attempt to take over the world by reshaping it in step with his own more-perfect version of self.

Sharpened through the revisions of time, this moment in history is sure to become merely a preamble.