Saint Barack

L'Express is the French equivalent of Newsweek or Time. 

Translation:  "Barack Obama: The Man who can change the world"

The Brussels Journal cites a column by Jean-Michel Demetz published in the same issue that is, however, already expressing doubts:

We almost hate ourselves for spoiling such a planetary festivity. Everywhere one goes, there is amazement and sheer delight. The election of a young, black president, sexy, moderate, intelligent, is dazzling the world.

Not since John Fitzgerald Kennedy has a democratic leader aroused so much hope. Everybody is identifying with Saint Barack just as, yesterday, everybody mourned Saint Diana.

Obama, or the mirror of our fantasies: the cursed and the powerful alike can project onto this awesomely telegenic image his or her hopes and dreams.

Such infatuation is touching. It's a strong bet however that this passion for Obama, from the Arab street that is now dreaming of a re-centering of Washington in the Arab-Israeli conflict to the French UMP party that welcomes this "rupture" (ha, ha, ha!), from the poverty-stricken dwellings of Kinshasa to the higher circles of Iranian power, will surely end in disillusionment, the hopes having been unattainably high. For politics has no worth outside the precinct of realities.

Rapidly, the world will learn that this man was elected to defend the interests of his country above all. It's fine if, for now, the universal order of the day is that what is good for America is good for the world. It remains to be seen how long this illusion will last.