I respectfully disagree. I know some were skeptical but others were giddy.
And if many Brits didn’t like the pre-election 0bama (and I will accept that), would they have preferred the successor to the loathed-abroad George Bush?
Some were indeed giddy, some were indeed sceptical. But there were others of us again - indeed I suspect the majority - who, while curious and intrigued by the unusual choice, didn't know enough about either the man himself, or U.S. politics in general, to have a strong opinion one way or the other.