Barack Obama clinched the Democratic nomination for president last night, propelling him to history as the first black standard-bearer for either major party.

“Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States,” Obama said during a huge rally in St. Paul, Minn. – the city where John McCain will accept the GOP nomination this summer.

Appearing overwhelmed, Obama paused for a long period as the crowd of roughly 17,000 people at the Xcel Energy Center erupted in wild applause and sign-waving.

Another 15,000 people were outside, and chants of “Yes we can!” – Obama’s catch phrase – were heard throughout his speech.

“Tonight we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another – a journey that will bring a new and better day to America.”

Obama’s victory will be made official with the vote of delegates at the Democratic convention in late August.

It sets up a race between a 46-year-old opponent of the Iraq war and John McCain, a 71-year-old former Vietnam prisoner of war and staunch supporter of the current US military mission.

In his remarks, Obama complimented Hillary Rodham Clinton and even mentioned her husband, Bill, who’s been deeply critical of the Illinois senator.

Singling her out for praise for her stance on universal health care and poverty and calling her campaign “barrier-breaking,” he said, “Our party and our country are better off because of her, and I am a better candidate for having had the honor to compete with Hillary Rodham Clinton.”

Obama took sharp aim at McCain, seeking promptly to paint him as a phony who’s in lockstep with President Bush.

“There are many words to describe John McCain’s attempt to pass off his embrace of George Bush’s politics as bipartisan and new – but change is not one of them,” he added.

He added, “We must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in – but start leaving we must.”

And he condemned the chances of “another election that’s governed by fear, and innuendo, and vision.

“What you won’t hear from this campaign or this party is the kind of politics that uses religion as a wedge, and patriotism as a bludgeon – that sees our opponents not as competitors to challenge, but enemies to demonize,” he added.

“America, this is our moment . . . our time to torn the page on the politics of the past,” he said, his voice rising as the crowd went wild.

Obama went into the day needing just over 40 delegates to hit the magic 2,118 number needed to clinch at the party convention – and capped the night with 2,144 after a drip-drip rollout of superdelegates throughout the day, an Associated Press tally found.

Obama will now need to bring back Clinton’s backers – especially older white women, political experts said.

“It’s incredibly important,” said political consultant Dan Gerstein.

“One of the reasons George W. Bush was elected and re-elected president was on the strength of white women . . . whose feelings are the most bruised” after Clinton’s defeat.

Obama had suffered a string of losses in primary states the last two months. He and Clinton had a split verdict in the last two primaries of the year yesterday. With a majority of the vote counted, she won South Dakota by 55-44 percent; Obama won Montana, 59-39 percent.

He’ll head to Clinton’s home turf for two fund-raisers in Manhattan tonight.

Officials with both candidates’ campaigns insisted there are no plans for any joint appearance between them.

One of his first steps will be to unify a badly bruised party that’s been split along racial and gender fault lines as the fight for the nomination between a black candidate and a female candidate stretched longer than anyone had imagined.

Obama will also look to bring in Clinton’s major donors, sources said – some of whom had privately expressed concern that they had been treated as unnecessary in light of the Illinois senator’s massive money juggernaut.

So far, several sources on both sides said, Obama’s camp had basically refrained from any orchestrated poaching to avoid insulting Clinton while she’s still in the hunt.

Clinton’s national finance chairman, Hassan Nemazee, said it had been the appropriate way to handle things, adding, “I would applaud them for the way they’ve conducted themselves.”

maggie.haberman@nypost.com