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World celebrates Barack Obama victory
(Philippe Naughton, Tom Coghlan, Richard Owen, TimesOnline, November 5, 2008)
World leaders rushed to congratulate Barack Obama today, basking in the reflected glory of his election as America's first black president and looking forward to a new, less confrontational era in US foreign policy. . . . "What an inspiration. He is the first truly global US president the world has ever had," said Pracha Kanjananont, a 29-year-old Thai sitting at a Starbucks in Bangkok. "He had an Asian childhood, African parentage and has a Middle Eastern name. He is a truly global president." . . . There had never been any doubt that if the outside world had been eligible to vote in the US presidential election, Mr Obama's victory would have been virtually absolute. But electoral etiquette prevented foreign leaders from getting caught up in the fever until the ballots were in and it became clear that the young Illinois senator had sold his message of change to voters back home. . . . "By choosing you, the American people have chosen change, openness and optimism," President Sarkozy of France wrote in a letter to Mr Obama, praising him for a "brilliant victory" and astute electoral campaign. "At a time when all of us must face huge challenges together, your election raises great hope in France, in Europe and elsewhere in the world." . . . In Berlin's Unter den Linden boulevard, where 200,000 people gathered to greet Mr Obama this summer, the revellers were out again last night. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel congratulated on his "historic victory" and immediately extended him another invitation. "Be assured that my government is fully aware of the importance and of the worth of our transatlantic partnership," she said. . . . We the Kenyan people are immensely proud of your Kenyan roots," added Mwai Kibaki, the Kenyan President, in a message to Mr Obama. "Your victory is not only an inspiration to millions of people all over the world, but it has special resonance with us here in Kenya."

posted by Lorenzo 1:15 PM