A staggering, indescribable moment
Updated on 05 November 2008
Barack Obama's victory equals any political event since the downing of the Berlin Wall and the release of Nelson Mandela, writes Jon Snow.
Hello history (to use the word of the times). What a staggering and indescribable moment this is.
Of course, last night was more than the culmination of the long hard campaign that's gone before - but the beginning of what's yet to come, a new political age. And amid the jubilation, we must also consider that the expectations are beyond the capacities of any one human being.
The presidency of hope
But what Barack Obama has done is to recognise that a presidency of the United States is about leadership, communication, inspiration and - yes - hope.
His speech in victory accepted that this is a job that can only be achieved provided the movement that surrounds it is inclusive, energised, committed and active.
Tonight we will try to analyse what has happened, what it means, and, most importantly, how it will now proceed. Obama is likely to name his transition team, that is, the team that will base itself in Blair House across the road from the White House and start to rapidly build an administration. The first posts we shall learn about will most likely be related to the economy.
Blueprint for change
Even after so many months of speech-making it's still not clear what are the concrete changes that may now ensue and in particular, there are some big foreign policy areas where Obama is not promising a hugely different tack from Bush, while there may be others in which he will want to signal radical change.
In many ways Obama's victory is rooted in the Bush years that are now ending, with America seeming now to grasp for a corrective to what that era has meant. This is a strangely dynastic society, and Obama has broken with dynasties.
Sage of Washington?
Warren Buffett, one of the world's richest men, is thought likely to be a key adviser, even though he's in his 80s. Familiar names like Rubin and Summers are likely to be in the heartland of the treasury team. People speak of Gates remaining as defense secretary; General Petraeus in post, too.
But conservative though Obama is (and that's a strange word at such a moment), I believe his inclusiveness will manifest itself in other ways, certainly including Republicans but also breaking with the two areas that have done so much to undermine hope and to undermine the esteem of the United States in the world: the economy and war.
Obama seems determined to reach out, both within America and beyond, to reassess the concept of enemy and the concept of friendship.
I spent last night at Howard University, a black institution on the edge of Washington. In the moment that Obama was elected, 2,500 young, black people crammed into a vast dancehall erupted in a way I have never seen a condensed group of humans perform.
Dancing in the streets
It was no performance. It was a spontaneous eruption of both joy and grief - 18-year-olds howled, tears streaming down their cheeks. They danced, they sang, and when life spilt out onto the streets of this deeply conservative capital of the United States, there was a rainbow of celebration - all ethnicities on 14th and U streets.
In this predominantly black town, there were more white revellers than people of colour. There were people with flags, with trumpets, with masks of Obama, and with hope.
We hope to capture what has happened here tonight on Channel 4 News. Sarah Smith is in Chicago with the Obama team, again with vast crowds. Jonathan Rugman is in Arizona, where McCain spoke too, with grace. And I shall be here in DC, overlooking the White House, where even now the preparations are in train for profound change.
See you at seven. Jon
PS. It ill behoves me to mention it, but I am proud to have been one of those who, in 2004 (and there were more than you might think), were certain that the Barack Obama who we saw deliver the keynote at the Democratic convention in Boston would be the next president of the United States.
It ill behoves me too to say that in April I began to use the word "landslide". I admit that the Palin moment wobbled my resolve, but for six months it has been clear to me that America, electorally, would break with the past. And indeed to the chagrin of my editor, I dared call it when, a month ago, John McCain pulled out of Michigan.
I am usually wrong about these things, so I'm hoping I've put one in the locker.
And on More4 News with Kylie Morris
Last night Barack Obama said "the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime". Well, it's tomorrow now.
Last night's revels have given way in Washington to an autumnal Wednesday - still alive with the impact and excitement of this major political, cultural and generational change, but aware too that this is still a country in which nearly half of voters supported John McCain and where the economic challenges faced by the incoming president will be immense.
A specially extended More4 News tonight will come from Washington.
We'll talk to a former senior member of President Bush's administration; the person who ran the almost-successful campaign of Al Gore; a leading race activist on both sides of the Atlantic; and the editor at large of Time magazine.
And we'll focus too on Britain - when will there be a black prime minister?
