Barack Obama - World Leader

It has been interesting in these past couple days to read about the international response to Obama's election win. The overall response has been extremely positive, with newspaper headlines across the world declaring Barack Obama the bringer of peace and prosperity to the globe. According to The Boston Globe's article "Much of the world exults in Obama", "...the reaction of US friends and foes alike suggests that Obama will receive a level of international good will not seen by a US president since John F. Kennedy."

Also in that same article was a quote from Douglas Brinkley, a history professor at Rice University, who said "No president of a country as powerful as the United States has ever been seen as such a unifying figure.... Most of the world sees Barack Obama as their leader. . . . It's a gigantic burden on his shoulders."

These are some pretty enormous responsibilities being put on Obama! Can you imagine if the entire world was expecting you to lead them? I hate to be a downer, but if everyone has expectations this high, isn't that likely to lead to unwarranted disappointment? It's like the opposite of what happened with Sarah Palin in the vice presidential debate. She made it through without completely humiliating herself, so we were all impressed.

I am confident that Obama will be a great president, but with the entire world putting him up an an enormous pedestal, I have to admit that I'm a little worried. We're involved in two wars and the worst economic crisis most of us have ever seen... and we're all expecting a miracle on January 20th.