In all my life I have never seen such intense emotion surrounding a leader as that evoked by Barack Obama. Even Ronald Reagan, the Gipper himself, didn’t enjoy the kind of prostration of the will offered to the president-elect by hordes of followers. Yet, while people the world over are imbued with “hope” and chant Obama’s slogan “Yes, we can!” – for instance, the French are using their translation of it, “Oui, nous pouvons!” – some of the intense emotion is of a very different species.
