"I was in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, when CNN announced that Obama had won. It was seven in the morning and, as word spread, the city seemed to surge with joy. I could hear Obama’s name shouted in the streets. People who spotted me as an American high-fived me and clapped me on the back. I’m told that many Nigerian babies were named Obama that day." - Michael Muller

"In Kano, a Muslim city in the far north of the country, a place where there are strong feelings against America, school kids chanted Obama’s name. In Rivers State, a poor area, a struggling health clinic posted a huge sign over its doorway that said “Yes We Can.” In Lagos, newspapers ran full-page ads congratulating Obamaon his victory. From watching African and Middle Eastern television channels in my hotel, I could see the euphoria spread all over the developing world." - Michael Muller

".....This Obama feeling was more like a bolt of lightning, an arcing shock that in an instant made the impossible possible, and in whose light no challenge was beyond human reach, including, in the developing world,a seemingly endless list of “impossibles” such as ending waterborne diseases and cleaning up the corruption that cripples progress. Two months before he takes the oath of office, Barack Obama instantaneously became a beacon of hope for countries whose own leaders do not provide that hope and, for most of them,never have." - Michael Muller