On the night of his election, Barack Obama declared that America had proved its true strength came "not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope".

His words resonated across the world, not least in the Middle East, where the might of America's arms has been felt most keenly. That the region was allowed that night to believe, once more, in the promise of American democracy, of a system that can propel a black man with Muslim roots to the White House, was a blow to Osama bin Laden and all those who have thrived on fighting America.