And The World Rejoices With Us

It’s not just us — this euphoric feeling of release, of joy, and of hope is blooming all over the world today:

“It’s kind of nice to feel good about the United States again.” — Armando Díaz, Carcacas, Venezuela

“Your election raises in France, in Europe, and elsewhere in the world, an immense hope.” — Nicolas Sarkozy, president of France and leader of the EU.

“Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place.” — Nelson Mandela, anti-apartheid activist and former president of South Africa

“There is the feeling that for the first time since Kennedy, America has a different kind of leader.” — Alejandro Saks, Argentina

‘’His election can be a lesson for the dictators of the Middle East.” — Badr-al-sadat Mofidi, Iran

“American democracy has just lived through a marvelous moment, one of those major turning points that periodically demonstrates its vitality, its belief in the future and its trust in the values on which it was founded over two centuries.” — Bernard Kouchner, French foreign minister

[Obama's victory] demonstrated the vitality of this great country, and of democracy and the unstoppable force of the ballot to bring about change … I am confident this opens a horizon of promise for relations between the United States and Spain.” — José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Spain’s prime minister

“We were all hoping that he would win. And the fact that he did with such a large margin is a sign of real change — at least let’s hope so.” — Carla Saggioro, Italy

And, my personal favorite so far:

“They did it. They really did it. So often crudely caricatured by others, the American people yesterday stood in they eye of history and made an emphatic choice for change for themselves and the world.” — The Guardian.