Yet, for all the anticipation of having a multilateralist in the White House, the Asian establishment is more wary of an Obama presidency than one might guess. Some criticise President George W. Bush's Iraqi misadventure as imperial overreach and mock his administration's fiscal incontinence. But many countries have learnt to live with – even to like – the Bush administration.

In New Delhi, Mr Bush was almost revered for clinching the US-India civil nuclear deal. In Beijing there was appreciation of his pragmatism as early rhetoric about China being a strategic competitor gave way to an alliance based on mutual interest. In Tokyo, Junichiro Koizumi, prime minister for five and a half years of the Bush presidency, gained much political mileage (plus, admittedly, a little derision) by portraying himself as the US president's buddy-in-chief.

For Asia's generally conservative elite, a Democrat in the White House, particularly one promising change – that is, messing with the status quo – brings the potential bother of having to recalibrate their US relationship. Historically, Asian leaders have felt less comfortable with Democrats than Republicans. Mao Zedong once told Richard Nixon, the Republican who broke the ideological standoff with China: “I like to deal with rightists. They say what they really think.”