Friday, November 07, 2008

First Black President United States Of America.

Obama wins historic US election ...
Democratic Senator Barack Obama has been elected the first black president of the United States.
Prompting celebrations across the country."It's been a long time coming, but tonight... change has come to America," the president-elect told a jubilant crowd at a victory rally in Chicago.His rival John McCain accepted defeat, and called on his supporters to lend the next president their goodwill.The BBC's Justin Webb says the result will have a profound impact on the US.He says the American people have made two fundamental statements about themselves: that they are profoundly unhappy with the status quo, and that they are slamming the door on the country's racial past.McCain: 'We must work together'Mr Obama appeared with his family, and his running mate Joe Biden, before a crowd of tens of thousands in Grant Park, Chicago.Many people in the vast crowd, which stretched back far into the Chicago night, wept as Mr Obama spoke."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," he said.He said he had received an "extraordinarily gracious" call from Mr McCain.He praised the former Vietnam prisoner-of-war as a "brave and selfless leader"...

The new law not only demolished segregation, but re-drew the US political map.So it is worth remembering that Barack Obama will not only be the first African-American president, but the first Northern Democrat to serve in the White House since Kennedy.To achieve this racial first represents the most extraordinary of achievements.Since the end of Reconstruction - the period in the aftermath of the US civil war - there have been just three black US senators.Only two states, Massachusetts and Virginia, have elected a black governor.With the election of a black president, what many considered the politically impossible has now become real.On 28 August 1963, Martin Luther King spoke of his dream for America, with the brooding statue of Abraham Lincoln offering the most glorious of pulpits.On 20 January 2009, Barack Obama will appear on the west steps of the US Capitol, at the other end of the Washington Mall, and seal his historic triumph with just 35 words: the presidential oath of office ...

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