“With such a great victory,” you warn in your main leader dedicated to Barack Obama, “come unreasonably great expectations” (“Great Expectations,” November 8, 2008). How true. But anyone who upholds democracy as a political system will grant those who have voted for Obama, as well as those outside America who wish they could have voted for him, the wisdom to understand your warning even before it is issued. Of course, one man cannot change the world without wholehearted support from all the others. Obama’s presidency will thus be a test of democracy rather than a test of his own prowess. More, it will be a test of the human species in adversity, for the world is now confronted both by a severe economic crisis and rampant climate change. If our expectations are unreasonable, they can be unreasonable only about ourselves. Fingers crossed.