Washington : Nov, 5
Democrat Barack Obama today wrote himself into history becoming the first Black US President in a landslide election win over Republican rival John McCain, engineering a huge political transformation four decades after the peak of civil rights movement for racial equality.
The 47-year-old Harvard-educated lawyer and Illinois Senator, born to a Kenyan father and White American mother, secured 338 electoral college votes against 159 of McCain out of a total 538 after an epic 21-month-long campaign in the most expensive-ever election.
“If there is anyone out there who still doubts 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 democracy, tonight is your answer,” an overjoyed Obama told thousands of his cheering supporters in Chicago waving to them in the company of his wife Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha.
Both his defeated rival and the incumbent in the White House George W Bush called up Obama to congratulate him on his victory and offer him their support.
Obama will be sworn in as the 44th US President on January 20 next year, marking a new milestone in the history of the US where civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King had laid out the dream of racial equality.
The Illinois Senator, who was a non-entity in the national scene four years ago, defeated charismatic Hillary Clinton in party primaries to clinch the Democratic nomination.
Obama, who will have pro-India Joe Biden as his Vice President, had voted for the Indo-US nuclear deal and favours close strategic ties with New Delhi though he has strong views on outsourcing.
He faces immediate challenges of a worsening domestic economy, its global impact and the foreign policy mess he inherits due to the American war in Iraq and the campaign against al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Taliban in Afghanistan.
On January 20 when he enters the White House, Obama would realise the objective of the mission launched by Abraham Lincoln, who also hailed from Illinois, about 150 years ago when he issued the Emancipation Proclamation that freed African-Americans from slavery. It will also come 43 years after the country enacted a law that gave the Blacks the right to vote in many southern states.
Obama's terrific showing, riding a wave of discontent against incumbent Bush's policies, swept aside Republicans in the battleground states of Ohio, Virginia Pennsylvania, Florida and California and made major inroads into Republican strongholds to gain a monopoly of power in Washington the White House and both the chambers of the US Congress.
He gave early notice of the unfolding events by capturing Pennsylvania, a Democratic state 72-year-old McCain had hoped to get and adding to his kitty Ohio, the Republican stronghold that had swept Bush to power in 2004, and Virginia, which had not voted for a Democrat since 1964.
With the exception of Texas, which has 34 electoral college votes, and a clutch of Republican states, McCain could not stop Obama's momentum.
Democrats are expected to gain at least 25 seats in the House of Representatives and make major inroads into Senate, perhaps even getting within the range of the filibuster-proof majority of 60 seats in the 100-member chamber.
McCain, a Vietnam War veteran, conceded defeat in his call to Obama. “We have come to the end of a long journey. The American people have spoken and they have spoken clearly,” he said in an address to his supporters in Phoenix.
Noting the significance of Obama's election, McCain said “this is a historic election and I recognise the special significance it has for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be their's tonight.
“America today is a world away from the cruel and frightful bigotry of that time. There is no better evidence of this than the election of an African-American to the Presidency of the United States.”
In his victory speech in Chicago's Grand Park, Obama, a powerful orator, told Americans “the road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you we as a people will get there.”
After his victory, Hillary called him to promise her full support and congratulated Americans for making him President. “In quiet, solitary acts of citizenship, American voters gave voice to their hopes and their values, voted for change, and refused to be invisible any longer,” she said in a statement. ??Bush also telephoned the President-elect to congratulate him on his “awesome night.”
“Mr President-elect, congratulations to you. What an awesome night for you, your family and your supporters. Laura and I called to congratulate you and your good bride,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino quoted Bush as telling Obama.
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