I recently read the long and depressing book Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder. The book dealt with the horrors inflicted by both Hitler and Stalin, from the early 1930s to at least 1945 in Ukraine, Moldova, Poland and the Baltic nations. I learned a lot about how horrendously the Poles and Ukrainians suffered in addition to the Jews.

What caught my attention, however, was an endnote for Chapter 5,"The Economics of Apocalpse." It applies to how we analyze our current political leadership It reads,

As individuals, Hitler and Stalin embodied different forms of the early nineteenth-century German response to the Enlightenment: Hitler the tragic romantic hero who must bear the burden of leading a flawed nation, Stalin the Hegelian world spirit that reveals reason in history and dictates it to others."

So, dear readers, what about President Obama as an archetype of leadership: Tragic Romantic Hero or Hegelian world spirit? I think he aspires for the latter and will be seen as a failure as the former.