Tens of millions around the world watched Barack Obama take the presidential oath of office Tuesday with a mix both of hope that he'd bring peace to a war-torn world and skepticism about what one man could accomplish. In Kenya, where his father was born, hundreds of people from all walks of life and ethnic communities sat in the great court of the University of Nairobi, counting the hours and minutes until the inauguration.
 Tens of millions around the world watched Barack Obama take the presidential oath of office Tuesday with a mix both of hope that he'd bring peace to a war-torn world and skepticism about what one man could accomplish.
 In Kenya, where his father was born, hundreds of people from all walks of life and ethnic communities sat in the great court of the University of Nairobi, counting the hours and minutes until the inauguration.
 When Obama took the oath, the crowd leapt to its feet, erupting in cheers of "Yes we can!" and "Obama! Odinga!" Both Obama and Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga are descended from Kenya's Luo tribe.
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 "There are no words to describe how I'm feeling," said David Osienya, a 24-year-old literature student. Obama "has shown us it is time for us young people to change society after our old politicians here nearly took us to civil war.
 A similar scene played out in Jakarta, Indonesia, where Obama lived as a child with his mother for four years. About a thousand excited people crowded into a hotel ballroom in the Indonesian capital to watch the ceremony.
 Among the most excited was Ati Kitjanto, a former classmate of Obama's at the Muslim Jalan Besuki school.
 "We're very excited that somebody who was in my class and lived in Indonesia has made it this far," Kitjanto said in a telephone interview. "We feel like some of his personality was molded somehow when he was in Indonesia."
 Kitjanto said that an Obama-led White House would surely look on countries in Asia and around the globe with greater sympathy than the Bush administration did.
 "We're very happy that someone who understands and respects other nations leads America," she said.
 Obama's message sparked a different reaction in the Middle East, where Arabs said they didn't see much change on the way for a U.S. foreign policy they blamed for unpopular actions such as the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the recent Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip.
 Ahmad Abdul-Raheem Mezel, 30, a resident of the Iraqi city of Fallujah, voiced a common view, that Obama would do little to improve the lives of everyday Arabs.
 "I do not think that Obama will bring any good or prosperity to our life since the former administration spent six years promising that without making any of that come true," Mezel said.
 "Maybe he will try, but he won't be successful, as there are many strong hands behind curtains that control him. He has not become U.S. president without satisfying those hands."
 In the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were still digging out of the rubble of Israel's three-week war on the militant Islamic group Hamas, few people shared the rest of the world's hope for change under President Obama.
 As Obama began his inaugural address, most of Gaza City was shrouded in darkness, the war having cut electricity to more than half the Gaza Strip.
 Hours earlier, Mahmoud Nimer, a young Hamas supporter, expressed frustration at Obama for not condemning an Israeli offensive that killed more than 1,300 Palestinians, two-fifths of them civilians, according to Gaza medical officials.
 "He kept totally silent about what was happening here," Nimer said. "I don't expect anything good from him."
 Official Russian media struck a similar tone, predicting the state of U.S.-Russian relations would remain shaky for years to come.
 "In my opinion, Russia does not trust the United States at all now," read a newspaper opinion piece by the head of a pro-government research organization.
 "The experience of the last 20 years has borne a strong and widespread conviction that constructive policy, concessions or support to Washington do not bear any dividends, are pointless and sometimes downright harmful."
 Obama's inauguration didn't strike such passions - at first - in a Cairo restaurant, where mostly Nubians from southern Egypt chatted in small groups over cups of cardamom-scented coffee and the bubbling of water pipes.
 When the cameras showed Barack Obama strolling forward to take the presidential oath, however, the chatter stopped and all eyes were fixed on the monitor.
 Kitchen staff in their flowing orange robes poured into the dining area. A couple stopped their fervent whispering and turned toward the TV. The manager, a burly man in an ill-fitting suit, puffed on a cigarette as al Jazeera began its simultaneous Arabic translation.
 "I, Barack Hussein Obama ..." the new president said. The dining room filled with gasps and laughter.
 "Hussein! You see? Hussein!" the manager yelled, coming out of his seat. "He said Hussein, right?"
 "Yes, yes, he said 'Hussein,'" the waiters assured him.
 "Hussein. Ha! They have a president whose father's name is Hussein!" the manager crowed.
 The waiters and customers traded high-fives and hugs. The manager passed out cigarettes in celebration.
 As the Star-Spangled Banner played, customers returned to their spicy chicken dishes, and the restaurant staff began clearing teacups.
 Mohamed, a young Nubian waiter with dimples and gelled hair, said he was proud of Obama but would reserve judgment until he'd seen what the new president could accomplish in office.
 "I like him now, but I still don't know him," Mohamed said with a shrug. "We'll wait and see."
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 McClatchy correspondents Tim Johnson in Chengdu, China; Hannah Allam, in Cairo; Shashank Bengali in Gaza City; and Tom Lasseter in Moscow contributed to this article. Daniel Trenton of The Miami Herald contributed from Baghdad. Also contributing were McClatchy special correspondents Eric Munene in Nairobi, Kenya; Mahdi al Dulaymi in Fallujah, Iraq; and Ali al Basri in Basra, Iraq.
