It’s gray and gloomy here in Boston today. We’re socked in and can barely see what’s happening across the street, let alone what’s happening across the Atlantic. But it’s big. The headlines say so: The fog may finally be lifting.

“Obama Ties US to the World”

That’s the headline on the front page of the New York Times.

Alleluia, I say.

The story is about Obama’s participation in the G20 meetings in London and his determination to see the US join the rest of the world in tackling the financial crisis that snares us all—and which we had a primary role in igniting.

“It is also my responsibility to lead America into recognizing that its interests, its fate, is tied up with the larger world,” Obama is quoted as saying.

He means it, I think.

Yesterday at the meetings, Obama announced a doubling of assistance to help the poorest people around the world cope with ongoing hunger. Our financial worries pale against the empty stomachs of nearly one billion people who don’t have enough to eat. They are part of our world, too.