The inauguration of Barack Obama marks an inflection point in history: A triumph over systemic American intolerance; the end of global cowboy capitalism and the rise of a more globally-conscious American populism.
America's new 44th President, Barack Hussein Obama, had many strikes against him two years ago, but he out-ran an impressive field of Democrats then defeated Republican Senator John McCain.
But no single event vaulted him faster into the presidency than did the complete collapse of capital markets worldwide due to a combination of American criminality, neglect and immorality.
This reality has destroyed those who have promoted around the world America's business "superiority" delusion, along with Wall Street's.
The financial crisis put Obama over the top and the Republicans could not have even gotten the popular Ronald Reagan elected this fall.
Meltdown and other failures
But there were three other major factors that led to the change in American mood.
At the same time as Republicans continue to attack government, the only government institution that they admired and protected - the Pentagon and its military/defense elite -had become global embarrassments due to the Iraq misadventure, among others.
Not insignificant, was the psychological effect following the 2005 Katrina hurricane nightmare in New Orleans. The issue was not that government agencies failed to respond quickly enough to a 100-year storm. Katrina represented the greatest single global embarrassment to Americans since the Vietnam fiasco or the lynchings and police violence during the civil rights struggle in the 1960s.
Katrina provided video evidence that the richest country in the world was also populated by an oversized, third-world underclass of disenfranchised, impoverished and unprotected citizens. America's dirty little secret was exposed.
Lastly, the increase in gasoline prices to US$4 a gallon this past summer jolted unsophisticated Americans into realizing that the status quo of dependency upon foreign oil, cars and wastefulness were ruinous.
All these failures contributed to the shift in public opinion.
The result is that Obama's inauguration represents a coming of age: America must leave behind its cocksure national adolescence, all muscular and economically hormonal, and take its place among mature nations in the spirit of mutual dependence, equality and cooperation.
Obama appears to be the embodiment of this globally-aware maturation. He is of mixed race, has lived abroad, speaks more than English, has both Asian and African siblings and appears to believe in transparency and collaboration.
We'll soon see as he takes office tomorrow and begins to roll out his policies and responses to the daily crises and events. But whatever he does or doesn't do, the world will never be the same again.
The business of America
There is no guarantee Obama will solve the world's woes, but there will certainly be no more American swagger or lectures by Wall Streeters as to how business or economies should be run.
(It should be noted that the Obama team is comprised of experienced economic players and his own orientation, background and bias is toward the University of Chicago view which is decidedly pro-trade and right of center.)
And Obama's geopolitics promises a new direction by staging more summits with avowed enemies as well as more conversations, and sometimes arm-twisting, by Washington to get everyone from Canadians to the French, Japanese, South Koreans and others to pull their weight in terms of aid and interventions.
The fact is that America cannot throw its weight around anymore, either morally or economically. Technically, the country is broke.
So a gentler, humbled America is hopefully on its way. Obama is fate's choice, but it is only because America has stumbled and bumbled and he has been, personally speaking, its principle beneficiary.
-- Diane Francis' Financial Post blog