Editorial From Merrie Olde England

Of course, it is only a matter of time before Barack Obama shows himself to be just, at best, an ordinary human being like the rest of us. However, between now and then, he has a window of opportunity that no other leader of a nation has ever enjoyed, not even Nelson Mandela.

Most of the people of America will not realise the level of support Obama has throughout the rest of the world, and not just the rich countries. Europeans see him as a very rare beast, in deed, a sane American. Africans are so proud of him that they will be writing songs about him for centuries to come. Ordinary Muslims hope, against hope, that his definition of "enemy" will not be automatically attached to religious affiliation. Therefore, any sensible moves he makes on the world stage will be greeted, for awhile, with an enormous amount of good will.

For example, he could help to stop the bloodshed in the Congo and bring the Iraq War to a speedy and acceptable conclusion. He could release the AIDS sufferers of Africa from the Bush/Vatican stranglehold that is killing them at a rate of 6000 a day and he could sell democracy rather than foolishly trying to enforce it. Anything is possible but he must act quickly.

There is one piece of Republican propaganda that the rest of the world does take seriously. It would be all too easy for Obama to embrace that most unhelpful of American national traits, isolationism. That would probably get him a second term in office but for the rest of us he would become nothing more than a very disappointing, world leader pretend.

By MadPriest.

The blog owner does not necessarily agree with all the views expressed here, but in the case of the above editorial, she mostly does.