It was a personal triumph, the makings of instant legend: Barack breaks up a fight between France and China and gets an agreement, Michelle dazzles the Queen with some unroyal physical contact and the Queen's request to keep in touch. (One Brit reporter said she's never seen the Queen take a shine to any of the Brit leaders, let alone Americans, as she did to the Obamas.)

President Obama was such a hit at the G20 Conference that the leaders of Russia and Italy were grinning into the camera with him, and Andrea Merkel of Germany--so obviously stiff and distant from GW Bush--was captured smiling and relaxed around him. The London media was uniformly gushing, and many newspapers throughout Europe and Asia carried photos of President Obama meeting their country's leaders.

The conference itself was more successful than anyone had predicted or imagined (though President Obama said simply that they'd done "okay") and sent a powerful message about the 20 leaders who preside over more than 80% of the world economy, seeing the need to work together, and also to aid other countries in the worst trouble.

For it is the world's poor who are hit hardest most immediately by the global Great Recession. The World Bank estimates that from 200,000 to 400,000 children will die because of it. “In London, Washington and Paris, people talk of bonuses or no bonuses,” Robert Zoellick, the World Bank president, said this week. “In parts of Africa, South Asia and Latin America the struggle is for food or no food.”

This was emphasized by Michelle Obama's emotional visit to a multicultural school for poor girls, and by President Obama in his press conference (full transcript here; the importance of this section to Obama administration policy was noted by Amy Sullivan):

"But in an era of integration and interdependence, it is also my responsibility to lead America into recognizing that its interests, its fate is tied up with the larger world; that if we neglect or abandon those who are suffering in poverty, that not only are we depriving ourselves of potential opportunities for markets and economic growth, but ultimately that despair may turn to violence that turns on us; that unless we are concerned about the education of all children and not just our children, not only may we be depriving ourselves of the next great scientist who's going to find the next new energy source that saves the planet, but we also may make people around the world much more vulnerable to anti-American propaganda."

As the Obamas head for the Continent, this reinvigoration of American leadership could be paying dividends at home already. By evening, both the House and Senate passed the Obama budget plan. There was also the sense that confidence might be returning, and that the Great Recession may be bottoming out. There yet may be shocks from the financial sector, but confidence can go a long way. And right now, the Obamas have provided a well-timed touch of hope.

In some ways it was like the Inauguration all over again, but this time for the whole world. This is our President and First Lady! Yes!