Having welcomed the historic victory of Barack Obama in the US presidential election, let us begin by shedding too much expectations of him. They are likely to be dashed - generating a great deal of pain and resentment into the bargain. There are some quite extraordinary notions circulating about what sort of president he will be, particularly in this part of the world — for example, that he is going to turn years of American Middle East policy on its head. This is a wilful, and ultimately destructive, fantasy.

Despite attempts by his more extreme opponents during the campaign to paint him as un-American, President Obama is not going to run the White House in the interests of anyone other than the American people. Nor should his victory be seen as a defeat or comeuppance for the US.

He is, by virtue of his election, everything that America stands for. He is Uncle Sam, the all-American kid, The Chief. As president, Obama is going to defend American interests first, not those of some other nation. His clarion call for change has convinced an eager world that he will change the US and change its foreign policies. That remains to be seen. If only because he is the first African-American president, he will want to carry as wide a section of American public opinion with him as possible in his decisions.