Prof Samantha Power said Mr Obama had made it clear in his campaign that his priorities were getting out of Iraq responsibly, doubling efforts in Afghanistan and taking advantage of the momentum generated by the presidential election.

She said Mr Obama wanted the anti-Americanism of the last eight years to be a thing of the past, but he viewed it as a security challenge and not simply a popularity contest.

"When governments are afraid of associating with the US because they will fall in general elections, it is not good for our ability to burdenshare and draw resources from other countries in meeting global challenges," she said.

Prof Power and her husband, professor of law at Harvard University Cass Sunstein, jointly delivered their inaugural lecture at University College Cork last night where both are adjunct professors of law. They spoke on the topic Whither America: Law Human Rights in the next US administration? In an interview with media in advance of the lecture, Prof Power said she and her husband had not been offered any role in the new administration and had no expectation of this.

Prof Sunstein, who also played an advisory role, commented: "We are really celebrating the election of somebody we admire and worked for. Anyone who in this period is thinking about their own job is not thinking about the right thing." He said one of Mr Obama's many achievements had been bringing himself and his new wife together on the campaign. The couple were married in Co Kerry last year. When he met Mr Obama after his election victory, the president-elect told him "you owe me one" for introducing him to his wife-to-be.

Stressing that she was speaking on her own behalf and not on behalf of Mr Obama, Prof Power said the president-elect wanted to work to create a collaborative co-operative framework that had been missing on everything from global warming to strengthening efforts in Afghanistan on the development and economic side, as well as the military side.