Ever since Barack Obama became front-runner in the US presidential race, there has been a strange paradox about Europeans’ view of him. On the one hand, Mr Obama is deeply respected by Europeans as a man who will heal the rifts between Europe and the US created by the George W. Bush era. On the other, Europeans rarely seem willing to contemplate what the emergence of Mr Obama implies for them in terms of sharing the world’s military and political burdens.

This paradox is all too evident from the results of the FT’s latest Harris poll. On the one hand, Mr Obama, at the moment of his inauguration, is a figure much admired by Europeans. A clear majority (for example, some 92 per cent in France) are convinced Mr Obama will have a positive impact on world events. They believe his lack of experience will do nothing to hinder economic recovery in Europe. Some 67 per cent of respondents in Italy, for instance, say they are “not concerned at all” on this front.