A DEFINING MOMENT -- Barack Obama, the first African-American to be elected President of the United States, greeted supporters at Chicago's Bryant Park Tuesday night.
Shared Destiny: Yes, We Can!
US Chooses Obama, Change
And so it came to pass that on Nov. 4, 2008, shortly after 11 p.m. Eastern time, the American Civil War ended, as a black man — Barack Hussein Obama — won enough electoral votes to become president of the United States. -- Thomas Friedman, op-ed columnist, New York Times.
At the end of the day, 250,000 supporters cheered President-Elect Barack Obama's victory and acceptance speech in Chicago's Bryant Park while 71 million more watched via television, congratulations poured in from foreign leaders, and jubilation reverberated around the globe.
Above all, it is time to celebrate the country's wholehearted embrace of democracy, reflected in the intense engagement of Americans in this campaign and the outpouring to the polls all over the nation.
For years, we have spoken of bringing free elections to the rest of the world even as we cynically mocked our own ways of conducting politics. Yesterday, we chose to practice what we have been preaching. -- E. J. Dionne Jr., op-ed columnist, The Washington Post.
The next First Family of the United States of America.
After following evening poll returns on the Internet and TV, I apparently closed my eyes and missed the moment the Obama-Biden ticket topped the magic 270 electoral college mark. I probably would have slept through the newly-elected president's speech if my sister and a friend hadn't called to share the excitement.
If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference.It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled - Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.
Its been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America. [from Barack Obama's victory speech]
World Greets News Jubilantly
Remarkable reactions of elation to the presidential election have been reported around the world. Five are pictured below, and others can be viewed in a slide show by Anya Strzemien.
Represented here are scenes from Sydney, Australia; Obama, Japan; the victory party at Grant Park in Chicago; children at the president-elect's former school in Jakarta, Indonesia; and his step-grandmother with family and friends in Kogelo, Kenya.
And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn - I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too.
And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world - our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear this world down - we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security - we support you.
And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.
Barack Obama's acceptance speech can be read or viewed in its entirety here.
Below is a montage by itispersonal, a tribute to Barack Obama, a man willing to take on the "weight of the world." The accompaniment is a song from singer Clay Aiken's On My Way Here album.
Barack Obama - Weight of the World
Caro
TECHNORATI TAGS: 2008 US Elections, President Elect Barack Obama, Vice-President Elect Joe Biden, African-American, history, change, Bryant Park, montage, Weight of the World, Clay Aiken, On My Way Here
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