President Obama

So it really happened.

I'm not sure it has really sunk in yet. I think the needs of daily living have kept me from stopping and just feeling it. Every time I see one of the headlines proclaiming the magnitude of Obama being elected, or see the pictures of how the rest of the world is reacting, I hold back tears of pride, happiness, and of course, relief.

It is hard for non-Americans to understand just how devastating the past eight years have been to my sense of being American.

The most powerful image from last night for me was not the sight of a black man addressing America as President-elect. It was of another black man, civil rights leader and presidential candidate Rev. Jesse Jackson watching, and crying. Crying because the cause for which he has spent his entire life fighting had been won. But won by another man.

My favourite quote about America comes from Winston Churchill: 'America always does the right thing, as soon as every other option is exhausted.'

Barack Obama has raised the hope not just of Americans, but quite literally of the entire world in the way that genuineness gets people to believe. But with those raised hopes come raised expectations.

It is just the beginning. As he acknowledged in his acceptance speech, there is a lot of hard work to be done. He will inherit an absolute mess, and it may be too much for one President to fix. But at least we're now going the right way.

The significance of what he has achieved cannot be underestimated. And perhaps the problems we face will fall one by one. Certainly now the world looks upon America a little more favourably.

And this humbled man no longer has to feel shame in being American.