In fact, as a Republican I feel it is my duty to note that the Obama Girl phenonmenon merely enhances Obama as Celebrity rather than Obama as Statesman.
Overseas, Lee was largely seen as a statesman — foreign political and business leaders have long praised him: «legendary» (Barack Obama); «brilliant» (Rupert Murdoch); «never wrong» (Margaret Thatcher), to cite a few of countless such tributes.
When candidate Obama was seeking to burnish his credentials as a nascent international statesman he met with Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Tony Blair.