In Obama, global leaders see light of hope
Wednesday, November 12th 2008, 3:22 AM
President-elect Barack Obama leaves his house in the Hyde Park neighborhood with his motorcade in Chicago Wednesday.
Kenyans celebrate Obama's victory in Nairobi.
Let the global honeymoon begin.
His historic win in hand, President-elect Barack Obama turned Wednesday to the task of building a new administration, as the nation - and the globe - celebrated his election as the new leader of the free world.
"We went from 'Yes, we can' to 'Yes, we did,'" said an exultant Cheryl Stephenson in Detroit, echoing the sentiments of the 63 million Americans who voted for the 47-year-old Obama.
PHOTO GALLERY: THE WORLD CELEBRATES OBAMA
It was a cheer heard around the planet, as presidents and prime ministers, kings and queens, friends old and new offered their hearty congratulations to the first African-American President in U.S. history.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown called Obama "a true friend of Britain;" the prime minister of Pakistan hailed his "dynamic leadership;" China's president spoke of "the new historic era;" while the Vatican sent its prayers, to name just a few of the well-wishers.
"Mazal tov, Obama," added the Jerusalem Post, while one British tabloid reached back 39 years and up into space to find the right note - "One Giant Leap for Mankind," read the banner headline.
Perhaps not since Neil Armstrong uttered those words upon taking the first steps on the moon, or John F. Kennedy ushered in that earlier age of hope, had the world offered up such kudos to these United States.
One U.S. correspondent overseas even reported getting an unsolicited peck on the cheek from an Austrian woman, who just happened to overhear him speaking American-accented English.
"The message was clear," wrote The Associated Press' William Kole. "Today, we are all Americans."
For a nation on the outs in many foreign quarters, it was a sign that, perhaps, some measure of Obama's vaunted change had already taken hold, even though the Bush presidency has more than two months left.
"I think I speak for most Americans when I say, 'Anybody mind if he starts a little early?' David Letterman joked on CBS last night.
President Bush, standing in the White House Rose Garden that Obama's young daughters will soon rule, called Obama's victory a "triumph of the American story" and pledged his "complete cooperation" during the transition.
"All Americans can be proud of the history that was made yesterday," Bush said, glossing over the role his own, profound unpopularity played in Obama's rise. "They showed a watching world the vitality of America's democracy and strides we have made toward a more perfect union."
At the State Department, an emotional Secretary of State Rice - herself a child of the segregated South - opened a morning briefing by hailing Obama's election as "an extraordinary step forward."
For the new President-elect, the high-level accolades came on a day when he seemed most interested in life's simpler pleasures. He awoke in his own bed in Chicago and enjoyed breakfast with his two young daughters, both rituals he has missed far more often than not these last two years.
A short workout rounded out a morning spent mostly thanking supporters and huddling with top advisers.
Asked how much sleep he had gotten, Obama told reporters, "Not as much as I'd like."
That's because there is business to be done and daunting challenges to be confronted - including a war on two fronts and the steepest economic decline in a generation.
A White House to fill
Wednesday, Obama's first steps were aimed at shifting the wheels of a new administration slowly into gear.
He asked Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel, a fellow Chicagoan known as "Rahmbo" for his fierce political skills, to be his chief of staff. Emanuel, long viewed as a potential Speaker of the House, was under pressure to accept. If Obama needed any reminder of the weight of responsibility before him, he will likely get it today when he is due to receive his first presidential intelligence briefing.
A small taste of the potential hazards ahead came in an Election Day edict from the Islamic Army of Iraq, a deadly insurgent terrorist group, which cast Obama as just another infidel.
As if that weren't enough, Wall Street sent its own cry for reassurance - communicated in the form of a 486-point drop in the Dow. Analysts said the market is already anxious about who Obama selects as the next Treasury secretary, as well as who he picks for other cabinet positions.
"The celebration is over," said Al Goldman, chief market strategist at Wachovia Securities. "Today, we saw a bit of reality."
"President-elect Obama is coming into a situation with limited experience, having to handle an economy in serious trouble, a couple of wars and terrorism," added Goldman. "It's an extremely tough job."
In reality, the most pressing threat Obama faces may well be the giant expectations he set for himself on the campaign trail, from withdrawing troops from Iraq in 16 months to reforming health care to weaning the nation from foreign oil.
Republicans were already lying in wait.
"Nobody can do more to rebuild the Republican Party than Barack Obama, because he's already promised to be all things to all people," said GOP operative Roger Stone.
In truth, the scale of Obama's win should give him more of a running head start than any President in a generation.
With 52.3% of Tuesday's vote in his column, Obama is the first Democrat since Jimmy Carter in 1976 to win more than 50% of the popular vote.
At the same time, Democrats control both the House and the Senate by their greatest majorities in decades, suggesting a clearer - though far from bump-free - road ahead for Obama's agenda.
One loyal member of the Senate opposition will surely be Republican John McCain, who yesterday returned to something close to normal life. After months of travel, McCain and his wife, Cindy, drove themselves to Starbucks for coffee near their Phoenix condominium.
Aides said they expected McCain to pick up his duties as ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee.
While beaten, McCain sounded anything but bitter in a gathering with supporters Tuesday night.
"We fought as hard as we could. And though we fell short, the failure is mine, not yours," McCain told the crowd. "I don't know what more we could have done to try to win this election. I'll leave that to others to determine."
He can count on it - postmortems into the GOP loss were already well underway.
There was no shortage of suspects - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the collapse on Wall Street, infighting within the campaign, McCain's own lack of a concise vision. All were named as part of the problem.
But the future belongs to Obama, who in 75 days is due to ascend the steps of the U.S. Capitol to take the oath of office as the first black President.
Those steps, Donna Brazile reminded viewers on "Good Morning America," have an interesting history of their own - they were built by slaves.
In 1870, Hiram Rhodes Revels became the first African American to serve in the U.S. Senate. Revels represented Mississippi from 1870 to 1871. His seat had once been held by Jefferson Davis, former president of the Confederacy.
... while others took to the Harlem streets to celebrate{Below}.
... while others drove through Times Square, honking horns and yelling in the streets{Below}.
Kimberly Dalton Mitchell, 26, of Astoria, weeps after hearing the results in Harlem.
![Original copy of the U.S. Constitution, housed in the National Archives in Washington, D.C.[Credits : © Steve Bronstein—The Image Bank/Getty Images]](http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/01/91301-004-68C32FE3.jpg)