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NEWSWEEK asked descendants of key figures in civil rights history to write letters to their ancestors describing their thoughts and feelings about the historic inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States. And to add to the record, we’ve collected letters from students and notable figures to Obama, and discussed the power of words with will.i.am and the inaugural poet.

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When Will Europe Be Ready to Chose a Leader Like Barack Obama?

As Barack Obama is sworn in as the first black president of the United States, Europeans wonder when — no make that if — they will ever see their own “Obama” in Europe.

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama waves to spectators as he leaves his hotel in…

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama waves to spectators as he leaves his hotel in Berlin July 25, 2008. As Barack Obama is sworn in as the first black president of the United States, Europeans wonder when — no make that if — they will ever see their own “Obama” in Europe.

(Markus Schreiber/AP Photo)
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Could a second-generation immigrant with roots in the black Third World be elected prime minister or president in Europe?

My American friends find it difficult to imagine an immigrant overcoming Europe’s white-dominated, slow and elitist political systems anytime soon.

“Does anyone really think that Britain would chose a second-generation Pakistani as its leader?” Yale professor and intellectual heavyweight Harold Bloom said.

“Would Germany choose a child of Turkish immigrants? Or France someone whose parents emigrated from Algeria?”

But European friends and intellectuals also seem more optimistic, even if most statistics say otherwise.

Raj, a teacher of postcolonial literature whose Indian parents moved to Great Britain in the 1960s, said he could envision a European Obama in the next 10 years. Particularly in Britain, which had a Jewish prime minister in the 19th century, and is perhaps seen as one of the better-integrated European countries.

ABC News: Is Europe Ready for a Barack Obama?.

But their messages contain hints of the challenges the new U.S. president will face.

Reporting from Washington — World leaders impatient for a new direction for America greeted President Obama’s arrival with exuberance Tuesday but sent telltale warnings of the challenges about to envelop the new chief executive and his administration.

The White House was flooded with leaders’ best wishes, including those of Pope Benedict XVI, who urged Obama to be “the promoter of peace and cooperation between nations.”

At the same time, many of the messages were laden with hints of the caution required in dealing with the troubled times ahead. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a conservative who had a good relationship with President Bush, nevertheless said she hoped that in the new era there would be agreement that “no single country can solve the problems of the world.”

Obama, in a nod to the global sentiment and with Bush seated only a few feet away, left no doubt in his inaugural address that an important part of his audience was on the far side of the horizon.

He promised a new era of American leadership, suggesting that the Bush presidency, with too great a reliance on force, had veered from the U.S. approach that had won World War II and the Cold War.

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World leaders welcome Barack Obama – Los Angeles Times.