World eyes race hoping to restore faith in US

GERMANS are gaga over Barack Obama.

He’s got Japan pretty jazzed, too, along with Hillary Rodham Clinton. Russia’s leaders, not so much: They prefer a Republican — as long as it’s not Kremlin critic John McCain. And Mexico’s president? He doesn’t have much use for any of them.

With so much at stake in the race for the White House, the world is watching with an intensity unseen seen since the Clinton era began in 1992.