Never mind the outpouring of emotion in Washington last week. Enthusiasm for Barack Obama washes well beyond America’s shores. On every continent voters have been cheering the new president while their leaders jostle for that precious invitation to the White House. The question now is whether, in embracing Mr Obama, the world will make its peace with the US.

Until January 20, Mr Obama belonged to everyone: a politician who would probably have won by an even bigger margin had he been standing for election in many other nations. The calculus, though, has changed. As the hoopla of the inauguration fades in the memory, the campaign poetry will give way to the more prosaic prose of government. Hugely popular as he is abroad, President Obama is sworn to uphold – first, second and third – the US national interest.