Bush hails Obama's 'historic' triumph as America's first black president prepares to unveil his team



President Bush today hailed the 'historic' victory of his successor as Barack Obama prepared to unveil his team after being crowned America’s first black president.

Just hours after his extraordinary victory, the 47-year-old senator was already at work firming up key appointments.

And while Mr Obama remained closeted at home in Chicago, it was down to an uncharacteristically eloquent George W. Bush to express the sentiments of much of the nation.



Speaking in the White House Rose Garden, he described his successor's triumph as 'a dream fulfilled'.

Stunning win: President-elect Barack Obama kisses his wife Michelle after a landslide victory

Overwhelming: Mr Obama and his family are welcomed by 100,000 supporters at Grant Park, in Chicago

'No matter how they cast their ballots, all Americans can be proud of the history that was made yesterday,' he continued.

'It will be a stirring sight to watch President Obama, his wife, Michelle and their beautiful girls step through the doors of the White House.

'I know millions of Americans will be overcome with pride at this inspiring moment that so many have waited for for so long.'

He said that Mr Obama's election was a historic breakthrough in a country that has had monumental civil rights battles and promised full co-operation until his inauguration in January.

After a triumphal victory rally in his home city of Chicago last night, there was no sign of Mr Obama today.

Instead he was behind closed doors receiving security briefings and working on his 'cabinet'.

He is expected to lean towards political heavyweights from the Clinton era, coupling gravitas with his relative inexperience.



John Podesta, a chief of staff under President Clinton, is said to have been working for a year with 50 experienced Washington advisers to vet potential secretaries of state and draw up a 50-chapter blueprint for the new administration.

Congratulations: George Bush gives a brief statement about Mr Obama's victory

Among the leading contenders to head the US Treasury are Laurence Summers, who was President Clinton’s last Treasury Secretary, Paul Volcker, a former Federal Reserve chairman and Tim Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Democrat insiders say Mr Obama is considering asking President Bush’s current Defence Secretary Robert Gates to stay on in the post.

The short list for Secretary of State includes unsuccessful 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.

There’s unlikely to be a role for Hillary Clinton unless she’s interested in spearheading a healthcare initiative, but another woman, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, is being tipped as a potential Energy or Education Secretary.

Congressman Rahm Emanuel, an outspoken former Clinton aide, is likely to be Mr Obama’s White House chief-of-staff.

Moments after the polls closed in California, Mr Obama was hailed the winner of the state's 55 electoral votes - taking him over the 270 total needed to capture the presidency.

He told a crowd of 100,000 supporters in Chicago it was time to put 'hands on the arc of history and bend it once more to the hope of a better day.

He said he had received an 'extraordinarily gracious' call from McCain, who he said had 'fought long and hard' for this campaign and for his country.



'We are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader,' he said of the former Vietnam prisoner of war.

'I congratulate him, I congratulate Governor (Sarah) Palin for all that they've achieved.



'And I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the month's ahead.'



He paid tribute to his running mate Joe Biden and said he would not be standing on stage tonight without 'my best friend of the past 16 years, the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation's next first lady, Michelle Obama'.

'Sasha and Malia, I love you both more than you can imagine and you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the White House,' he said to cheers from the crowd.

First family: Mr Obama with his daughters Natasha, second left, and Malia, and his wife Michelle wave to the crowd after he delivered his address yesterday morning



Obama embraces his daughter Malia. The Democrat defeated Republican presidential candidate John McCain to become the 44th President of the United States and the first black president in US history

He also said he knew his 86-year-old grandmother Madelyn Dunham, who helped raise him but died of cancer late on Sunday night, would be watching.

He said his campaign 'began in the backyards of Des Moines (Iowa)' and was built by working men and women 'who dug into what little savings they had' to give small donations to the campaign.

'It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy, who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep.



'It grew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on doors of perfect strangers.

'And from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organised and proved that more than two centuries later a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from the earth.'



'This is your victory.'



Obama told those whose support he had not won: 'I hear your voices, I need your help and I will be your president too.'

He told those watching outside the US that 'our stories are singular but our destiny is shared.

'The new dawn of America leadership is at hand,' he said.



'To those who would tear the world down, we will defeat you.



'To those who seek peace and security, we support you.

'And to all those who have wondered if American's beacon still burns as bright, tonight we've proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth but from the enduring power of our ideals, democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.



'That's the true genius of America.'



By 4.30am, Obama had collected 333 electoral votes to Mr McCain's 155.

Loser and winner: A Republican listens to John McCain, who conceded the election to Barack Obama, while a California Democrat cries tears of joy

The result comes as a historic landmark in America’s struggle from the shackles of slavery to the segregation of the Deep South in the 1960s to finally achieving civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr’s ‘dream’ with Americans of all colours and creeds voting a black man into the White House.

He won a flurry of East Coast states before breaking through with key wins in battleground states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Always facing an uphill struggle, McCain knew his fading hopes of a dramatic comeback were lost after being defeated in Ohio because no Republican has ever won the presidency without capturing the state.

Michelle Obama and Jill Biden arrive onstage after Obama's acceptance speech in Chicago

Television talk show host Oprah Winfrey dances during a victory celebration for President-elect Obama in Chicago



Obama was also the projected winner in Connecticut, Delaware, Washington DC, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Vermont, Iowa, California and his home state of Illinois.

McCain won as expected in South Carolina, Kentucky, Alabama, Wyoming, North Dakota, Kentucky, Utah, Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Oklahoma, all states with heavy Republican support. But he could not bring off any surprises or encroach on Democrat territory.

The crestfallen Arizona senator officially conceded defeat at the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona, as a huge crowd at Chicago's Grant Park celebrated and waited for Obama's victory speech.

'My friends, we have come to the end of a long journey. The American people have spoken and they have spoken clearly,' he said.

What the papers say: A selection of New York newspapers leave no doubt about Mr Obama's overwhelming victory

McCain said he called Obama and congratulated him on becoming the 44th American president.

He said his opponent inspired the "hopes of millions of Americans".

'This is a historic election. I recognise the special significance it has for African Americans," he added.

He said the memory of past racial injustices still has the 'power to wound,'

But he added: 'Let there be no reason now for any American to fail to cherish their citizenship in this, the greatest nation on earth.'

Senator Obama 'achieved a great thing for himself and his country'.

McCain pledged to do 'all in my power' to hep America through 'these challenging time' and urged his supporters to come together to help the new president lead the country.

'Whatever out differences we are fellow Americans,' he added.

Real-time election results:

State-by-state: Click on the map to see the results of the election in real-time



'We fought as hard as we could and although we fell short, the failure is mine, not yours, he told the crowd before thanking running mate Sarah Palin as 'one of the greatest campaigners I have ever seen'.

'We can all look forward with great interest to her future service to Alaska, the republican Party and our country.'

'Tonight, more than any night, I hold nothing but love for this country and all of its citizens. I wish God's speed to the man who was my former opponent and will be the president of the United States.'

The Republicans election day drubbing dashed any frail hopes McCain had of staging a comeback after falling further and further behind in the polls on the final leg of the marathon campaign.

At age 72, it sounded the death knell for his long and distinguished political career, while aides said running mate Palin, 44, was considering a push to win the Republican Party candidacy for the next election in 2012.

Gordon Brown this morning welcomed Barack Obama's election and said he was looking forward to working with him.



The Prime Minister said the Democratic senator ran an 'inspirational campaign, energising politics with his progressive values and his vision for the future'.



Conservative leader David Cameron today said Mr Obama was the first of a new generation of world leaders.

'In electing Barack Obama, America has made history and proved to the world that it is a nation eager for change,' he said.

'This is an important moment not just for America but for the world.

'Barack Obama's victory will give people a new opportunity to look at the United States and see her for what I believe she is - a beacon of opportunity, freedom and democracy.'



In America President George Bush phoned Mr Obama to congratulate him on winning the presidency.



He told him: 'What an awesome night for you, your family and your supporters.'

He added: 'You are about to go on one of the great journeys of life. Congratulations and go enjoy yourself.'

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In churches and bars, on the street and in private homes, African Americans celebrated the historic victory of Democrat Barack Obama in the U.S. presidential race with cheers and tears on Tuesday.

'This is definitely history in the making,' said elementary school teacher Sheneka Mayes, 32, in Atlanta. 'This night will be burned into my memory and into the memory of my children.'

In Chicago's Grant Park, tens of thousands of Obama supporters erupted into cheers at the victory while they waited for him to appear. The Rev. Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader who had twice sought the Democratic nomination, stood in the throng, tears streaming down his cheeks.

Thousands watched a giant screen in New York's Times Square. Thousands more watched a big screen set up on 125th street in Harlem, New York, dubbed the unofficial capital of black America.

In Atlanta, a crowd held a candlelight vigil at the tomb of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, setting the election firmly in the context of the movement in the 1950s and 1960s to end racial segregation and win the right to vote for black Americans in the South.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson weeps as CNN's prediction of the election of Barack Obama is broadcast in Grant Park

At King's old church, Ebenezer Baptist, deafening cheers greeted the announcement of Obama's victory. Thousands had awaited the results listening to thumping gospel music from a choir dressed in black and watching two giant TV screens scrolling results on CNN.

After several minutes of celebration, Pastor Raphael Warnock quieted the crowd and prayed: 'On the night before King was assassinated, he said: 'I have been to the mountain top, I have looked over and I have seen the promised land. I may not get there with you,'' said Warnock in a quote from one of King's most famous speeches.

'Tonight we have seized the promise of America,' Warnock said.

The result was all the sweeter because it answered fears that weeks of opinion polls giving Obama a lead against McCain might have overestimated his support among the country's white majority.

'This is a great night. This is an unbelievable night,' said U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, who was brutally beaten by police in Selma, Alabama, during a voting rights march in 1968.

'Tonight we can celebrate and thank God almighty. Martin Luther King must be looking down from the heavens and saying 'hallelujah,'' Lewis said.

Well done: President Bush telephones his successor to congratulate him

But the celebrations were not entirely religious in nature.

In San Francisco, Nic Horton sprang ran out of a bar with a cell phone glued to his ear moments after networks called Obama the winner.

'Who's your president now, Mom?' He shouted jubilantly into the phone.



In Philadelphia, Michael Coard, a 43-year-old black lawyer, said he was so excited by the election that he took a picture of himself inside the voting booth, casting his vote for Obama.



'I feel rejuvenated,' he said. 'This is the best vote I've ever cast in my life.'

In Tampa, Florida, cheers and applause broke out in a crowded bar as CNN called the race for Obama. The blare of cars honking outside wafted through the bar's open front door.



'It's a landslide! It's a landslide!' shouted 51-year-old Mark Bias, who was dressed in a tall satin Uncle Sam hat and red, white and blue cape.



'This means that America will be back on the right track again,' said Bias, who co-owns what he described as a 'gay pride' shop.



'What it really means for the country is that there's going to be a major change in the direction ... (for) the priorities of the regular person, and not just the wealthy,' said



Carrie West, 54, as bar patrons chanted 'O-ba-ma, O-ba-ma, O-ba-ma.'