There's some evidence that Obama's election, and his efforts to "reach out" to various constituencies, particularly people in the Middle East, is getting through.
Most striking is this graphic depiction of who watched the YouTube video message he sent to Iranians in March (YouTube has only just made such user data available):
The video had a total of 600,000 views and 15,000 of them were in Iran - not a huge number but enough, apparently, to make an impact. It can be marked down as a small but significant win for the White House's willingness to try this new form of direct, president-to-people diplomacy.
The second piece of evidence is a new multi-country poll showing that America's image in the world has markedly improved since Obama's election. Animosity to the US still runs deep in some (not all) Muslim countries. Israel is the only country (out of the 25 surveyed) that preferred America under Bush.
Perhaps this is a honeymoon period that, like the domestic one, must come to an end. Still, it's good to see that the 2008 optimism on this front wasn't entirely misplaced.
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