Mr. America

In two Op-Eds Larger Than Life in London and Liberty, Equality, Envy from today's New York Times, A.A. Gill and Amélie Nothomb remarked on President Obama's visit to London. I found these articles particularly intriguing, as they presented the views of citizens in other countries toward our new President, Barack Obama.

The view of A.A. Gill, of London, is clearly expressed in the title of his article where he describes the President as "Larger Than Life". He seems to take President Obama and First Lady Michele Obama as a breath of fresh air among stale and disconnected world leaders. After reading this article, one would envision the Obamas as vibrant, young, and most importantly extremely humble and gracious people. He focuses on the character of President and First Lady Obama as the most important factor in their future success. However, he also notes something that I think is extremely important, people around the entire world love the Obamas. He describes President Obama as the "only popular politician left in the world." This has immeasurable importance now that every issue has become globalized. In contrast to the isolationist personality of President Bush, President Obama has gone around the world impressing both world leaders and world citizens. The fact that world leaders want to be associated with him will prove very useful foreign relations in the future. It is also quite comforting to know that our President is held in such high regard globally.

Amélie Nothomb, of France, wrote a similarly praising article. Her position is that not only do people around the world love our President, but that they are jealous of us for having such an amazing leader. She also states that the leaders are even more envious, "wondering why they are not loved as well as Barack Obama is loved." The general tone of Ms. Nothomb's article is that people worldwide worship President Obama, she even states that "Mr. Obama's anger is portrayed here as something holy." While I wonder if that statement takes things a bit far, the important fact is people everywhere appear to be very supportive of our new President.

With such high expectations globally, I sincerely hope that President Obama will be able to live up to all of them. I agree with both columnists in the respect that I am proud to have Barack Obama as the President of the United States. However, we do still have to wait and see how he handles the many national and international crises he has inherited. Hopefully, for all of us worldwide, President Obama will show over and over again that he deserves the popularity.