America is drifting to the centre, with its politics seeing the emergence of liberal republicans and conservative democrats, reports TAMRAT G. GIORGIS, Fortune Staff Writer, from Chicago. He was one of the over 4,600 journalists accredited to cover the election night party at Grant Park on the night of November 4, 2008.

The issue of 'USA Today' that came out three days after the presidential election had one of its cartoons capturing the elation stirred as an African-American is voted to become the first president of the world's most powerful country. A black woman is reading a bedtime story to her son from a book titled, "The American Dream," supposedly authored by "B. Obama," The son asked a snooping question whether it was a fairy tale she was reading for him.

"No, son," replies the mother. "This is the American history."

It was this history in the making that another boy from the Lebin family wanted to be part of on Tuesday night, November 4, 2008; an eighth grader from northern part of Chicago, Marni Lebin, 14, braved the chilly weather at Grant Park. He came to celebrate the victory of the first African-American as the 44th president of the United States. He waited, together with his sister and their father, an accountant, for hours from 3:30pm, before the park opened to the public at about 6:00pm.

This family was among those gathered in the park, and following the results broadcast live on mega screens by the CNN. They represented all kinds of people from all walks of life, although the younger generation constituted the largest number.

"I couldn't imagine being anywhere else today," Imara Kennedy, a young African-American activist for Senator Obama from Georgia, Atlanta, told Fortune. "It gives us a real sense; Obama will take us all, all America."

It was this feeling of change for inclusiveness promised by Senator B. Obama that brought the white Lebin family and African Americans, such as Mr. Kennedy, to the park that entertained over 125,000 of Senator Obama's supporters that night. None of them doubted his imminent victory. Even when the results from states such as Indiana, Georgia, and Florida - rather known as key and battleground states - were yet to come, Mr. Kennedy declared a loss for Obama was "not possible."

"I came here with visions of him in the White House," he told Fortune, before he rushed to the stage, singing and chanting, and displaying an ecstatic emotion.

Senator Obama in the White House is no longer a fairy tale or something to be imagined; it will become a reality in January 2009, when the president-elect is sworn-in as the next president. He will take with him the hopes of not only the African-American community and the 58 million people voted for him, but also many million others from other communities who did not vote for him, and hundreds of millions across the world.

"This will transform America in a manner never seen before," hopes Kennedy.

Many agree that the United States had come a long way before it let an African-American become its president. John Zogby, an international pollster and head of Zogby International, says this election marks transformation within American society because there is no longer a rebellion of the Great Depression, or the race issue of the civil rights movement. It could only be paralleled by the transformational periods known in American history, such as the time of Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan.

But, Obama is seen as a too-good-to-be-true phenomenon; though he had lost his bid for the United States House of Representatives eight years ago, he won the race to the Senate in 2004, and became president-elect last week. It is too short a political career to have claimed such office at the age of 47; a lack of experience and thin resume that was powerful ammunition for his rivals during the campaign.

But breaking barriers is not new for Obama; a product of a broken marriage, when his Kenyan father moved back to his native land, he was brought up by his grandmother who died a day before seeing her grandson become commander-in-chief of her nation. He went to school in Indonesia after his mother remarried, and moved back to Hawaii, his place of birth, and where he spent his earlier days. He studied Political Science and International Relations at the Columbia University of New York and Law at Harvard. It was here that he became the first black president of the influential 'Harvard Law Review.'

He then moved to Chicago, where he was employed by the University of Chicago, a school that finally lent its name to the president-elect: "The University of Chicago Democrat."

Obama is known as a community organizer in the black populated southern neighborhood of Chicago; one his successes were the 'Project Vote' initiative where 150,000 of the 400,000 eligible voters in the state of Illinois were persuaded to get registered to vote.

"As a young man, I remember him going from door to door and doing community works," said an African-American taxi driver from the south side.

Obama was elected to Illinois Senate in 1996. He served there for three terms, before he moved to run for the US House of Representatives in 2000. He is credited for reforming healthcare laws, increased tax credit for low-income families, increased subsidies for childcare, as well as working for stronger regulations on mortgage that aimed at discouraging foreclosures.

He resigned from the state's Senate in 2004, right after he was elected to the US Senate, and became the first black politician to assume such a place in there, receiving 52pc of the votes. But his ascendance to the prominence on national politics and capturing the attention of the American public did not come until July 2004.

He delivered a keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts - John Kerry was nominated as the presidential candidate against the incumbent George Bush - and challenged the segmentation of American society with his assertion, "there is not a liberal America and a conservative America; there's the United States of America."

This was the speech that has made people like Michael (Mike) Endale, 27, a software developer originally from Addisu Gebeya, ardent supporters of the young senator.

"I've never seen a democratic candidate as inspirational as Obama is over the past 50 years," said Mark Hansen, dean of Social Sciences Department at the University of Chicago.

In the spring of 2007, when hardly anyone in the Ethiopian community in North America believed Barack Obama had any chance of winning even the primaries, Michael and his friends formed the group "Ethiopians for Obama."

Gregory Magarian, professor of Law and Election Law expert at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, is one of the analysts who believe Obama's deliverance of this speech was a defining moment for the black politician.

"People might have thought they would vote for him as a president one day," Magarian said. "But nobody thought it would be this soon."

He was challenged by a high profile Republican. After all, John McCain, 74, is a war hero admired by the American public in his credential as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, as he would not mind to break ranks with the Republican establishment.

McCain won his nomination under his centrist credential, according to John Zogby, international pollster and head of Zogby International.

There were two prominent strategists behind this election that took Obama to victory and McCain to his loss, according to Magarian.

Karl Rove, a man known to have led George Bush to two successive victories, reengineered how presidential elections are fought as far as Republicans are concerned; he developed a strategy of betting on hardcore conservative republicans largely in rural America. Instead of focusing on picking votes from everywhere, he thought of the idea of focusing on the conservative camp; he rocked them from their long slumber and energized them.

Maggi's family from near Davenport, Iowa, is one of these Americans that are the support base of the Republican Party. Deep in the vast corn growing farms in rural America, the state of Iowa is where a presidential candidate is first tested during the primary election, a process where Americans vote for a candidate from each party before the national election. Whoever losses the primary, she would have an uphill time ahead when campaigning in other states.

Obama defeated Hillary Clinton in this state where over 90pc of the population is white. It was a turning point in Obama's bid to the presidency; it dispelled all the doubts people had about how serious Obama was in his campaign, recalled Michael.

"That was when I knew we finally have our real man," said the African-American taxi driver from southern Chicago.

Of course, being registered Republicans, Maggi's family, which runs a water drilling business, with her husband managing the technical part of it with their son, did not vote for Obama.

"I can't vote for Obama," Maggi told Fortune. "But I pray for him to win."

Jeff Dikema, 58, a personnel manager, and Tory Smith, 45, a mechanical engineer, voted in a public library in Davenport town three days prior to the election date; both cast their vote for the Republican McCain but believed Obama would win.

The Obama team has had a campaign hailed by the media and campaign analysts as nearly flawless to capture such sympathy from even those voting for his opponent. Magarian attributes this to the strategy developed by Howard Dean (MD), chair of the National Democratic Committee, and a series of events preceding the election.

Dean was the first to spot the power of Internet to galvanize the younger voter base and raise funds, the latter away from large corporate donations that would finally lobby the elected president. He developed the 50-state approach where the campaign focused on all states, breaking tradition on how the Democrats campaign in their strongholds in the north-west and west coast.

"This didn't work out very well for him [Dean]," Magarian said before the election. "His strategy would be very successful for Mr. Obama."

A few days later, he was proven right. President-elect Obama won 53pc of the votes from 133 million voters. His victory by six percentage points was equal to that of Bill Clinton and George Bush Sr.

These votes come from unlikely states, such as Virginia, where no presidential candidate from the Democratic Party has won since 1964. With the margin of 200,000, Obama received 53pc of the 5.3 million votes there. It was also in this state that the 'Ethiopians for Obama' campaign worked hard, reaching out to the estimated 7,000 voters of Ethiopian origin. Although this figure represents a drop in the number of total voters, the way the campaign was organized was symbolic.

"It was incredibly important," Michael said, one of the 60 volunteers.

A cofounder of the initiative, Michael oversaw an organized effort to see a candidate of their choice elected for the first time since Ethiopians began to arrive here beginning the 1960s. But those in the older generation were very skeptical of the possibility of a black man rising to assume the most powerful office in the world. Obama's foot soldiers in the neighborhoods of Virginia were challenged at the beginning by this string skepticism and the cultural apathy of working together towards a mutual cause.

"Not finding somebody who could believe in it [was the toughest part] at the start," Michael told Fortune. "Many people used to promise to turn up but didn't."

Nonetheless, Michael and his group continued to raise funds through the Internet - Ethiopians contributions to the campaign is estimated have reached up to 20,000 dollars - campaigned for voters' registration particularly at churches and by knocking on doors; and they made calls urging people to vote. They campaigned for Obama persuading voters of Ethiopian origin that their candidate not only shares the similar story of an immigrant child, but also promotes reforms in immigration, healthcare cost and education, issues that are dear to communities such as the one from Ethiopia, many of whom are part of the working class.

"All we did was connect the bridge," Michael told Fortune last week, a few days after Obama's presidency became a matter of certainty. "It was a worthwhile effort."

He was in Virginia at a friend's place after closing the campaign office on Tuesday. Michael said he was shocked to hear the result, although he had expected it.

"It didn't hit me until such time that they [the TV networks] started to call him president-elect," Michael said.

Hardly anyone has waited that long in Grant Park in Chicago. Marni, his sister and his brother disappeared into the crowd that was chanting the words "Yes we can!" Many were emotionally overcome; Reverend Jessie Jackson, a veteran from the civil rights movement, and TV celebrity Oprah Winfrey, cried on live TV at seeing America vote for a black man as president.

"We have seen so much; we have come so far," said President-Elect Barack Obama, a few hours after the announcement of his victory and following the gracious concession speech made by his rival,, Senator McCain, who described him as a former opponent and now his president.

"This is our moment; this is our time to reclaim the American dream."

The 'American Dream' has long viewed the country as one that gives opportunity for individual growth and merit, no matter who and where the person comes from. It is about a country that represents to many a place for fulfillment of one's dreams, whether in education or career development. It is a 14 trillion dollar economy that largely benefits the middle working class.

"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our Founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer," Obama told the crowd gathered to celebrate his victory on Tuesday night.

Nevertheless, that dream has been eroding lately, according to many scholars. There is now the glass watch scenario; it is a situation where the middle class is being squeezed either up or down. But the majority of Americans feel they are pushed to the bottom part; 70pc of Americans have been affected by the prevailing macro economic situation, said Ed Stuart, professor of Economics at the Northeastern University in Chicago. Close to 75pc believe their country is in a series crisis and 85pc feel it is going in the wrong direction, according to Zogby.

Corinne Walker, an art director at the Johnson Publishing Ltd., a publisher of 'Ebony' magazine whose head office is right across the Grand Park, is one of these affected Americans who feel the pressure, and the desperation.

"We're losing ground," Ms. Walker said standing a few metres away from the podium where President-elect Barack Obama delivered his conciliatory victory speech. "We're down on our knees."

Over 1.2 million people have lost their jobs, putting the unemployment rate at 6.5pc, the highest in 14 years, according to data released on Friday by the U.S. Department of Labour.

The expectations on Obama's administration to rescue Americans from their state of frustration and his promise to deliver hope and change is high. They want him to bring change in two areas: To turn around the sinking economy where he promised, "Wall Street cannot thrive when the Main Street suffers", and restoring United States' place in the world where once it had enjoyed the moral upper ground.

"The first few months of Obama will be time to respond to crises in the economy and foreign policy," said Hansen of the University of Chicago.

Many scholars agree that his significant fingerprint will be visible in his country's relationship with other countries; an area where many Americans agree they have lost the battle with the Bush Administration's "arrogant, bullying and narrowly focused" foreign policies.

"It'll be surprising news for many people in the world on what America is like," Hansen said of what is to come.

Hansen sees Obama following in the footsteps of Clinton, favouring diplomatic engagement over confrontation, even with countries with governments that are seen as dictatorial and tyrannical. Should things go further, the administration might put the bar high for countries to have a better record in human rights protection, when United States enters into trade deals. This is an approach aggressively used by administrations such as that of Carter and Clinton.

"U.S. interests are better served through engagement with regimes that it tries to change," Hansen said.

This should not be surprising considering that Obama is a post-cold war generation who believes in dialogue, according to Stuart.

"We may try to change some things," Stuart said. "But we will have to work with whoever is there."

One of these changes Donald Levin, professor emeritus of the University of Chicago, also an expert on Ethiopian issues, wants to see in restoring America's standing with France and Germany - countries once mocked by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for their opposition of the war in Iraq, as old Europe - and engagement with others such as Iran, Pakistan and North Korea.

"Obama's whole platform is not confrontation but dialogue and making connection," Levin told Fortune, from his office at the University of Chicago.

The policy of the Obama Administration toward developing countries, such as Ethiopia, could evolve into the direction of giving emphasis to smarter economic aid that could enhance productivity, far from the ad hoc emergency assistance, according to Levin, who briefed Obama for half an hour about situations in the Horn of Africa and United States policy to the region; the Senator visited Ethiopia and Kenya in 2006.

"I think there will be a whole lot of changes," Levin said. "There will be no blank cheques."

The changes he sees are coming in the infusion of talent on the State Department and energized, as well as forceful engagements, of the United States with Ethiopia.