A day like no other

IN THE FIRST week of August 1961, two Freedom Riders challenged the segregation of Greyhound buses in Mississippi. The federal government sued three counties in the Deep South for denying black people the right to vote.

That same week, Barack Obama was born in the newly minted state of Hawaii, the son of a Kenyan immigrant and a white college student with roots in the American heartland.

Yesterday, something happened in America that few people would have dared predict 47 years ago - Barack Obama was elected 44th president of the United States, the first African-American to lead a nation that has struggled with the issue of race for most of its 232 years.

"It's been a long time coming, but tonight because of what we did on this day, in this election, in this defining moment, change has come to America," the jubilant Obama told a massive outdoor crowd at Chicago's Grant Park as he declared victory early this morning.

It was a World Series-like atmosphere in Obama's hometown and in cities and college campuses across America, including in Philadelphia, when the race was called for the Democrat at precisely 11 p.m. Throngs of young supporters bobbed up and down and danced to the candidate's theme song, "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" by Stevie Wonder.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who was at Obama's victory party, wept openly while U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., who was clubbed by police while marching for civil rights in Selma, Ala., in 1965, told MSNBC that "it's unbelievable that we've come such a distance in such a short time, to see a young black man elected president of the United States."

"This is an historic election, and I recognize the special significance it has for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight," Republican John McCain told his stunned supporters outside a Phoenix hotel earlier as he conceded the race.

An election that dragged on for nearly two years, often dominated by the predictable day-to-day grind of negative ads and flag-waving rallies, ended with an emotional climax for many voters. They realized that Nov. 4, 2008, would be a landmark day for a nation where blacks were once held in slavery, which brought a civil war and a civil-rights struggle.

"I didn't vote for Barack Obama," said Chad Dion Lassiter, president of Black Men at Penn School of Social Work Inc. "I voted for my ancestors in the Middle Passage who were unable to vote. . . . I voted for those four young girls who were blown to premature martyrdom in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama."

Other voters were equally emotional as they cast their ballots - as it became clear that an American electorate frustrated by George W. Bush's hugely unpopular administration, an economic crisis and war in Iraq was turning to the charismatic first-term Democratic senator from Illinois, and away from the GOP.

"I'm, I'm really speechless, I'm overwhelmed by it all," said Karen Carr-Williams, the 50-something matriarch of a large African-American family, as she stood in the parking lot of the Carmen Tilleli Community Center, in Cherry Hill, choking back tears. "I won't be able to sleep tonight."

The euphoria felt by many Obama voters - African-Americans and millions of others seeking a positive sign of U.S. exceptionalism and diversity after eight divisive years - was shared around a planet where millions also hailed Obama's ascent.

Large crowds celebrated in Kenya, while a band in the tiny village of Moneygall, Ireland, where the president-elect also has roots, performed a rousing folk song, "There's No One as Irish as Barack Obama."

The looming end of the Bush years brought hope to many abroad that the United States would again work with the global community on issues from global warming to the Middle East.

Dominique Moisi, founder of the French Institute for International Relations in Paris, told Deutsche Welle radio that Obama's election would send the message "that America, the beacon of hope, is back."

But here at home, not all Americans saw yesterday as a joyous occasion. For every 11 Americans who reveled in an Obama victory last night, there were nine citizens dissatisfied with the outcome, who saw the nation's president-elect as too inexperienced, too liberal or too risky.

Cuban immigrants Israel and Isolina Karpel, also speaking emotionally as a light, late-afternoon rain fell outside Lower Merion Baptist Church, in Bryn Mawr, where they had just voted, said they were convinced that a President Obama would be like having Fidel Castro run America.

"Castro talked smooth like syrup, just like Obama does," the 70-year-old Isolina said angrily. "He promised us the moon and the stars, but instead, he took away everything."

Patricia Massey, of Warminster, cast her vote for McCain because, like many, she trusted his experience while fearing Obama's inexperience.

The radically different emotions of Obama and McCain voters cast into sharp relief the enormous challenges that will face Obama when he takes the oath of office on Jan. 20, 2009.

The expectations and challenges facing the first African-American president - also the first senator elected to the White House since 1960, with just four years in Washington under his belt - would have been enormous under the best of circumstances. And these are far from the best of circumstances.

At home, Obama will confront the greatest economic crisis since Franklin Roosevelt took office at the depth of the Great Depression, as jobs vanish, car sales and home prices dip to unthinkable lows, and many Americans fret over a steep loss in their retirement accounts.

Abroad, the enormous hope that so many foreigners have vested in a new presidency with a new direction may fade as the next president faces real policy tests, such as how quickly to withdraw troops from Iraq, or how to handle tensions between Israel and Iran over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

Many voters - especially African-Americans and millions of young people who cast their very first presidential ballot for Obama - may become disillusioned as the new president is hampered by soaring federal deficits that could thwart his campaign promise to bring tax cuts and other relief to the middle class.

"People are going to be setting up roadblocks, and the first moment that he stumbles people are going to pounce all over him," said James Hilty, Temple University history professor and presidential scholar. "He has to be careful - and yet he has to be bold because of the problems that he's facing."

Hilty joined other experts in marveling over the achievement of Obama, who broke through the glass ceiling for black candidates - with a mostly positive campaign that spoke of hope and bipartisanship. He overcame the heavily favored Hillary Clinton machine in the Democratic primaries, raising unprecedented sums of money from small donors and eventually drawing throngs as large as 100,000 to rallies.

Still, many doubted that a man with Obama's unusual story - his Muslim father, before leaving the family when his baby was two, left his Christian son with the politically awkward middle name of "Hussein" that became a rallying cry for political foes - could become president. Especially when his opponent was a former Vietnam POW like McCain. But the depth of the economic crisis, which saw U.S. stocks lose a third of their value, peeled away the last remaining doubts for many of the undecided.

Thomas Sugrue, a University of Pennsylvania professor of history and sociology, and author of "Sweet Land of Liberty: The Forgotten Struggle for Civil Rights in the North," said Obama's candidacy meant different things to black and white voters.

"He crafted an image to white America that he's going to be a black president but that he's not going to be the black president," said Sugrue, noting that Obama rarely spoke openly of race except when forced to, after the controversy over the fiery remarks by his then-pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

But there was a celebratory mood in many urban locales, from Chicago's Grant Park, where thousands celebrated the Obama victory last night, to the streets of Philadelphia.

"Around 3 p.m. in Germantown, teenagers standing at the corner of Greene Street and Chelten Avenue were screaming at the top of their lungs, holding Obama signs that asked everyone to 'Honk if you love Obama,' " reported Margaret Cook, a writer from Mount Airy. "Cars honked like crazy and it was chaos, but in a good way. Signs that read 'Make History - Vote' were taped to telephone poles on every corner for miles up Greene Street."

Dayton Duncan, 23, of North Philadelphia, was still in a long line at his polling place at 8 last night at the official closing time, and he was determined to stay and vote - even though the networks awarded Pennsylvania's 21 electoral votes to Obama at 8:01.

"I feel like it's a monumental thing," Duncan said. "There's so much more to this than politics. It speaks to the magnitude if this country - and this means so much to me."

A majority of people around the world apparently felt the same way. Polls showed that outside of Israel, where Bush's aggressive Middle East policies remain popular, as many as two-thirds to 80 percent of citizens preferred Obama. Many foreigners had despaired of the highly unpopular invasion of Iraq and the Guantanamo prison camp as well as America's unilaterial approach on the environment and other issues.

"I thank God for sparing my life long enough to see a black man on the verge of being elected president of the United States of America," Roy Barnasee of Kingston wrote to the Jamaica Gleaner on that Caribbean island.

Jonathan Adelman, a professor at the University of Denver's Josef Korbel School of International Studies, said he believes that many foreigners see Obama in the same way that John F. Kennedy was perceived in 1960, as bringing a spirit of youthful vigor back to the United States.

"The level of expectations has been raised in many countries for a variety of reasons," said Adelman, "but it is unlikely that he will be able to meet those expectations." As an example, he mentioned Obama's desire to increase the troop presence in a difficult situation in Afghanistan, which could lead to increased casualties right at the time that troop deaths in Iraq have fallen.

But Adelman, as well as other experts, wonders if new president Obama would face bigger problems with raising expectations here at home. After all, Obama's most enthusiastic and youngest supporters voiced sky-high expectations for the new commander-in-chief.

"This is something I will remember for the rest of my life," said 25-year-old Precious Justice, who was working a polling place in Southwest Philadelphia for the Democrat. "It's like Obama's bringing some light to us so and we may be able to finally see something different. I now have hope for my little brother, hope for my little cousin and hope for myself, because I'm still young."

Obama's campaign promises included a tax plan that would raise levies on the wealthiest yet cut rates for about 90 percent of all Americans, as well as a push for expanded health-care coverage. But experts wonder how he can achieve those goals as the federal deficit climbs toward a record $400 billion, and how voters might react when he can't.

Some pundits say that an Obama may need to model his presidency less after Kennedy and more after Franklin Roosevelt, who remade the federal playbook with his New Deal to combat the Great Depression. Like FDR, Obama could need to launch a massive public works program that would fix the nation's crumbling infrastructure while creating jobs in an economy that continues on a downward spiral.

Today is the day that a youthful president-elect may begin to struggle with those problems.

But yesterday was a day for history and, to a majority of Americans, for hope.

Suzanne DuPlantis, a singer from East Falls, said she stood on line with a number of African-American women who brought their children - and cameras.

"They were kind of shyly, or a little bit self-consciously, taking pictures of themselves with their children in the lines getting ready to vote for Obama," she said. "It was really moving and underscored how momentous and historic this happy day really is." *

Staff writers Ronnie Polaneczky, Jason Nark, Dafney Tales, Kitty Caparella, Dan Geringer and Stephanie Farr, and the Associated Press contributed to this report.