KEY POINTS:
I suppose there are always going to be those who are sceptical of the 44th President of the United States even though Barack Obama appears to be an intelligent, caring, kind and handsome family man without the faintest sniff of a whiff of a scandal to taint him.
I suppose you can't blame people for being cynical, because as we used to say in my old Fair Go days, if something looks too good to be true, chances are it is.
But in this case, I would like to think that in Barack Obama we have finally found a man for our time. If there had been even the glint of a spangle of a showgirl's pastie in his past, you can bet your bottom dollar Hillary's team would have found it, even if the Republicans hadn't.
Normally elections involve seasoned old campaigners who know all the tricks and for whom the election is a public means to a personal end. But this time, the US election was different.
It's like the Olympics. I sit there sneering at the testosterone engorged girls on the running track and the boys with man breasts in the weightlifting and suggest renaming the Olympics the International Science Fair and then along comes Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps and I want so desperately to believe.
I want to think that somewhere in the world there are people who can achieve greatness without compromising their bodies and their souls to do so. And I hope and pray that Barack Obama is just such a man. So many hopes, dreams and expectations have been heaped upon his slender shoulders.
And of course he alone can't make things right. No one man can fix a defunct economy, achieve lasting peace in the Middle East, make a graceful exit from Iraq (and Afghanistan) and provide the American people with an effective, affordable health system.
But one man can be the catalyst for change. And he's certainly not wasting any time in putting his country to rights.
On his first day in office, he signed legislation that made the government more transparent and accountable; he imposed new rules that prevents former government officials from joining the private sector then using their insider knowledge to lobby their old colleagues; he called a halt to military hearings at Guantanamo with a view to closing the controversial camp and imposed a wage freeze for all government officials earning more than $100,000 a year.
Not bad for the very first day at school. But President Obama believes in leading by example and by crikey, the whole world seems to be following his lead.
John Key announced the very next day that he would be asking the Higher Salaries Commission to freeze the pay of this country's politicians and senior officials and he has the support of other party leaders as well.
I suppose President Obama feels he has to move quickly not only because so many of America's problems require decisive leadership and swift responses but because who knows how long he will have to do his job?
It is an act of supreme courage for him to go to work every day in a country that has a sad history of nut jobs executing leaders and visionaries.
I only hope the goodness and faith that saw him elected protects him while he serves his people.
* www.kerrewoodham.com
