Their citizens, and thousands of American expats, ignored any such niceties – partying on the beach in Rio, filling a hotel ballroom in Sydney and cheering to the rafters in Obama, Japan, when their namesake's victory was confirmed.

“What an inspiration. He is the first truly global US president the world has ever had,” said Pracha Kanjananont, a 29-year-old Thai sitting at a Starbucks in Bangkok. “He had an Asian childhood, African parentage and has a Middle Eastern name. He is a truly global president.”

There had never been any doubt that if the outside world had been eligible to vote in the US presidential election, Mr Obama's victory would have been virtually absolute. But electoral etiquette prevented foreign leaders from getting caught up in the fever until the ballots were in and it became clear that the young Illinois senator had sold his message of change to voters back home.

“Forty-five years ago Martin Luther King had a dream of an America where men and women would be judged not on the colour of their skin but on the content of their character,” Kevin Rudd, the Australian Prime Minister, said. “Today what America has done is turn that dream into a reality." More...