"I really hope Obama lives up to his promises because if he doesn't just imagine how bitter the rest of the world is going to be about it."

- the rest of the world reached the zenith of it's bitterness against the usa a long time ago...i marched in the multi-million man protest against the invasion of iraq back in feb/03...the rally in my city was peaceful, but very graphic in it's condemnation of george bush, and american foreign policy in general...it must have been a shock for american tourists to see their domestically popular president, and foreign policy characterized as criminal...for months after the rally, american tourists found anti-bush, anti-usa literature left on their car windsheilds...even among polite society, it was acknowledged that george bush had turned the usa into a sick joke

obama changed all that overnight, and he's not even in the white house yet...as far as the rest of the world is concerned, obama cannot fail to deliver on his promises...obama will immediately close the concentration camp in cuba, disband it's kangaroo court, and re-criminalize torture...that alone will make a big difference to america's reputation abroad...obama will extricate the usa from iraq and close the concentration camp there, but that will take more time...obama will restore the primacy of diplomacy to US foreign policy...those are basic policies of almost every civilized country so it won't be that difficult to accomplish, but it will mean soooooooo much to the rest of the world

if obama accomplishes anything beyond that, it's a bonus for americans, but it won't mean as much to the rest of the world...we want america to be the best it can be, but we don't expect obama to cure everything that ails the country...it's great if he improves access to health care, but that isn't something the rest of the world worries about...it's great if he rebuilds the middle class and restores fairness to the tax system, but the rest of the world doesn't lose sleep over that...the rest of the world does worry about the national debt and trade deficit though, but we're not going to hold it against obama or the usa if he can't solve a multi-trillion dollar problem in one administration