In electing Barack Hussein Obama to the presidency, the American people have chosen an intellectual, a prophet of unity and a man with a Black Kenyan father and a white American mother. They have, at the same time, rejected the politics of fear and division that did such damage to their country.
I am one of billions of people who find themselves astonished and delighted by this event. But the election is just the beginning. Few presidents have confronted bigger challenges than Mr Obama. Among that number must be counted two of the greatest – Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Mr Obama regards himself their heir. The question is whether he can come close to their exalted level.
The new president’s agenda is daunting. His country’s power is also reduced. Indeed, it was never as great as those who spoke of the “unipolar moment” believed. But the US remains the world’s greatest power and only leader. It possesses unmatched assets. The presidency of George W. Bush was a lesson in how not to use them. The Obama presidency must now be the opposite.
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