Jubilation around the world a sob am a voted first black us president
History was made when Barack Obama became the first black man to win election as president of the United States.
The 47-year-old Democrat’s triumph came 143 years after the end of the Civil War in America and the abolition of slavery.
As millions of people across the country and the world celebrated, the president-elect told a jubilant crowd in Chicago: “It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment, change has come to America.”
His rival, Republican John Mccain, accepted defeat and called on his supporters to lend the next president their goodwill.
Obama, the country’s 44th president, appeared in Grant Park with his family and running mate Joe Biden.
Standing before tens of thousands of people, many of whom wept with joy, he said: “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 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.”
Obama took 365 electoral votes and nearly 53% of the popular vote, while his 72-year-old Republican challenger captured 173 electoral votes and more than 45% of the popular vote. More than 69.4 million Americans cast their vote for the African American, while some 59.9 million voters chose Mccain.
Obama captured the traditional Republican strongholds of Virginia and Indiana as well as the key battleground states of Florida and Ohio.
Born in Hawaii in 1961 to a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya, the new president had graduated from Harvard Law School and was a law professor at the University of Chicago before launching his political career in 1996 when he was elected to the Illinois State Senate. He was re-elected to that post in 1998 and 2000. But in March 2004, he shot to national prominence by winning the US Senate Democratic primary in Illinois.
That July he delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in Boston before later being elected to the US Senate.
Obama announced his candidacy in February 2007.
His charisma, unique life story and inspiring message of hope and change drew large crowds and paved the way to election success.
His inauguration took place on January 20, 2009, in a wintry Washington DC with more than a million people gathering in the National Mall to witness him take the oath.
He placed his hand on a Bible used by Abraham Lincoln at his inauguration in 1861 and repeated the oath of office, promising to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”.
Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin sang My Country ’Tis Of Thee against a backdrop of clear blue skies as thousands of people waved flags. Joe Biden was then sworn in as vice-president.