Congratulations Mr Barack Obama on winning the 2008 Presidential elections.
Barack Hussein Obama was elected the 44th president of the U.S. on Tuesday, swept to victory by an anxious country eager to change course at home and abroad. Obama, 47, becomes the first African-American in U.S. history to win the presidency.Oakland erupted Tuesday night, from fireworks bursting up from East Oakland, firecrackers exploding on Foothill Avenue, to mobs of people skipping down Broadway and cheering while drivers wailed on their car horns and people danced in the streets all the way west. Downtown in Jack London Square, a block party outside Everett and Jones' barbeque brought hundreds of people together to celebrate the election of America's first black president.Following speeches by leaders like Barbara Lee and performances by D'wayne Wiggins and LaToya London, deejays blasted old-school funk, R&B and Oakland hyphy poets. Everett and Jones'
offered barbequed ribs and chicken outside and served heaping plates of food. Inside, while watching President Elect Obama's victory speech, people danced, cried, drank, debated, embraced each other and just hollered his name.Older and younger folks grooved to Zapp and Roger and Keak da Sneak, wearing Obama buttons saying "He's black and I'm proud," Obama t-shirts glittering with rhinestones and shirts recalling the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Obama's appeal for national unity was a theme that resonated with many Oakland residents. Cornell White, who celebrated his 27th birthday that night as well as Obama's victory, felt the change would not just be for African Americans but for the American people. "That's why I voted for him, not based on ethnicity because we have the same ethnic background but because I like what he stands for," White said.Many also felt the change Obama has brought is the upsurge in civic participation, which showed in his mainly small donor-funded campaign and this year's record voter turnout. "In terms of creating the kind of community we want to live in, I think Barack Obama is really going to charge people into doing whatever it takes to make our country a fulfilling place for all people," said Jaleah Winn, of Oakland.Reco Bembry, an anti-violence consultant for the City of Oakland, spoke of the empowerment of youth in this campaign. As Americans lined up on
Tuesday, Nov. 4, people around the world held their breath, and largely rooted for Barack Obama. "[The] U.S. now needs to focus more on its own economy and society and cannot afford to continue the hardline conservative foreign policy. It's neither diplomatically good nor economically feasible for U.S. anymore," Tushar Sharma, a 23 year old Indian graduate student living near Versailles, France wrote in an e-mail.Obama's popularity with the rest of the world was criticized during the campaign by his opponent John McCain, who ran television advertisements calling Obama "the biggest celebrity in the world," alongside pictures of pop singer Britney Spears and hotel heiress Paris Hilton.Obama is something of a phenomenon in Europe; during his Europe trip in July, his appearances drew large crowds. In Berlin, his speech at the historic Brandenburg Gate garnered a crowd of about 200,000 people, numbers comparable to what John Kennedy and Ronald Regan received only as sitting presidents, not while they were candidates.Janine Obermayer, 23, of Manchester, England said Obama's win meant that America's relation to the rest of the world would change: "I heard on the BBC radio this morning, America is a bit like the flu, if it coughs we all get sick. We're pretty chuffed that Obama's won, he's the best of a bad bunch, and McCain seems to be a bit of a chump."
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