On more responses from around the globe see for instance at Common Dreams.org Wednesday, November 5, 2008 by The New York Times
Election Unleashes a Flood of Hope Around the World
by Alan Cowell
PARIS - From the front lines of Iraq to more genteel spots like Harry's Bar in Paris, the election of Barack Obama unlocked a floodgate of hope that a new American leader will redeem promises of change, rewrite the political script and, perhaps as important as anything else, provide a kind of leadership that will erase the bitterness of the Bush years.
Whether it was because of Mr. Obama's youth, his race, his message or his manner, some European leaders abandoned diplomatic niceties to compete for extravagance in their praise, while others outside the United States - fascinated by an election that had been scrutinized around the globe - reached for their most telling comparisons.
"There is the feeling that for the first time since Kennedy, America has a different kind of leader," said Alejandro Saks, an Argentine script writer in Buenos Aires. Or, as Ersin Kalaycioglu, a professor of political science in Istanbul, put it, "The U.S. needs a facelift and he's the one who can give it."
and for a song to Obama which capures the moment see: Hannah's Blog : My Mess of Motley Musings
World Overwhelmed By Barack Obama's Victory
From NTV Kenya
Public holiday for kenyans to celebrate Obama's Victory
From NTV Kenya
Update: more reactions to Obama's win:
CNN reporter seems awed that Yes large numbers of people around the globe are exited about the Obama win .
People around the world are hoping that after the eight long dark years of Bush there seems to be a change about to take place.
Global Celebrations Over Obama Victory
Rachel Maddow on Obama Win -
Here's a reaction from Tom Brokaw who only recently claimed in an interview with Charlie Rose that he knew little about Obama - to paraphrase Yeah he wrote a couple of books and what have you- finally Brokaw without missing a beat jumps on the Obama express -self-serving - possibly-
Tom Brokaw's reaction to Obama's win
Anyway Barack Obama against all odds is now the President-Elect of The United States of America. For the moment those angry mobs at the McCain/Palin rallies now seem to represent but a small part of America .
Listening to his speech brought to mind Sam Cooke's sad but hope filled song and so here it is:
Sam Cooke-A Change Is Going To Come
The whole world was watching and held its breath hoping yet filled also with fear and anxiety . Whatever secret or not so secret ploting went on in the backrooms to defeat change and maintain the statu-quo have come to naught. McCain and Palin's campaign of smears and fear was soundly rejected . Is the American Nightmare over. Finally has America's long dark night of the soul now ended.
President-Elect Barack Obama In Chicago
Keith Olbermann- This is Man On The Moon Like Victory
What an Amazing Moment!
By William Greider, TheNation.com. Posted November 5, 2008.
This election will transform American life in ways we cannot yet fully imagine. It's amazing to be alive at such a promising period in history.
We are inheritors of this momentous victory, but it was not ours. The laurels properly belong to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and all of the other martyrs who died for civil rights. And to millions more before them who struggled across centuries and fell short of winning their freedom. And to those rare politicians like Lyndon B. Johnson, who stood up bravely in a decisive time, knowing how much it would cost his political party for years to come. We owe all of them for this moment.
Whatever happens next, Barack Obama has already changed this nation profoundly. Like King before him, the man is a great and brave teacher. Obama developed out of his life experiences a different understanding of the country, and he had the courage to run for president by offering this vision.
When I heard Obama's victory speech it sounded like that of the character "V" of "V For Vendetta". Is that being too pedestrian.
President Elect Obama: 'Change Has Come to America' (Yes. He. Did.)
Posted by Barack Obama, AlterNet November 4, 2008.
Barack Obama is the next President of the United States. Here's his historic speech.
...It's 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.
So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people.
Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity. Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, "We are not enemies, but friends,though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection." 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.
So as Robert Sheer says now is the time for Americans to gush and to analyse it all later:
Morning Again in America
By Robert Scheer Nov. 4
It’s time to gush! Later for the analysis of all the hard choices faced by our next president, Barack Obama, but for now, let’s just thrill, unabashedly, to the sound of those words. Heck, both he and we deserve a honeymoon, at least for a few paragraphs of this column.
It is “Morning Again in America,” to reclaim and revise the slogan from the 1984 campaign of President Ronald Reagan, only this time the promise of an American renewal is in the hands of a moderate post-Cold War leader who embraces, rather than denies, the diversity and complexity of the modern world. It is difficult to imagine Obama ever asserting the arrogant jingoism that has come to mark Republican stewardship of this nation in the eyes of the world.
How refreshing for Americans to have elected a leader who was among the first to reject the imperial hubris that led this nation to invade Iraq over the objection of most of our allies. A leader who had the courage in the midst of a hotly contested primary election campaign to refuse to play the inveterate hawk in order to qualify as commander in chief, and instead had the audacity to advocate efforts at dialogue even with those we despise. The dead hand of Joe Lieberman has been lifted from the party that he betrayed. It is hoped it is also the end of the road for the neoconservatives who had rallied around John McCain as their last best hope for establishing a Pax Americana.
All the best,
GORD.
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