The world reacts to Obama’s election

Two weeks ago Jonathan and I sat down for lunch with Pascal Bruckner, a leading French intellectual, novelist, and proponent of neo-conservative ideology. He surprised, I think, both of us when he stated that Americans just do not realize that Obama is not only looked at as a candidate for the United States, but as a the candidate for the world (similar to Reagan, FDR, and Wilson, I suppose). Despite being a strong supporter of the Iraq War and of Donald Rumsfeld, Bruckner relayed to us that he hoped that Obama would win.

Now I know a little bit of what Bruckner means by “world candidate.”  CNN has a collage of video clips of the world’s reaction to the election of Barack Obama to the office of President of the United States. It’s worth a look.