Hey, World: Cheering Obama Isn't Enough

The world is rejoicing at the election of Barack Obama, and that's great. But Obama has a tough road ahead—so let’s see if the global community can put its money and troops where its mouth is, writes Thomas Friedman in the New York Times. Rather than just smiling on the president-elect, the world must be prepared to back him—with soldiers, diplomatic support, whatever it takes.

“I understand any foreigner who objected to the US invasion of Iraq,” Friedman writes, but now Obama must end it. US allies celebrating Obama's election should “offer whatever they can to help him." Don't just show us the love, show us the money, the troops," he writes. As the world cheers, it must remember: “freedom is not free, and your excuse for doing less than you could is leaving town in January," Freidman notes.
(More world stories.)