A little past 11:00 p.m., the giant American television networks almost simultaneously called the Democratic Party presidential candidate, Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States. I was watching the unraveling of history with my Republican immigrant aunt and uncle in a little town at the edge of Obama's state, Illinois just bordering a so-called battleground state, Missouri.  An American activist- friend from Los Angeles sent a text to her friends and exclaimed: "Free at last, Free at last! Thank God Almighty that we are free at last! Finally, am proud to be an American citizen!"  Another activist-friend in New York who knocked on the doors of Republican homes in Pennsylvania to canvass for Obama sent her own ecstatic sms:  "Unbelievable! Ecstatic! Emotional! I only wish I had done even more!"

Indeed, the air was thick with euphoria, like a cathartic wave settling down.  As the Republican candidate John McCain offered his gracious concession, thousands of Americans braved the autumn chill and took to the streets across the country in spontaneous celebrations: outside the White House, in the ghettos of Harlem, under the neon lights of Times Square, inside churches and outside parks.  And in the tented Grant Park in Chicago where the 47 year-old Obama was to give his poignant victory speech, Americans of all races, age, creed and gender animatedly celebrated, unabashedly shed tears of joy, shouted their battle cry slogan "Yes, we can!" with a pleasant hoarseness as they awaited their champion, their knight in shining armor, a 21st century Camelot to be relived on stage.
For it was no longer Kobe Bryant, Oprah Winfrey or Condoleeza Rice who were the most famous black Americans in the world, but the soon-to-be most powerful man in the world, Barack Obama, Jr.

I espied Oprah quietly crying among the denizens at Grant Park, the Rev. Jesse Jackson- who once aspired for the same office shedding his own tears- both anonymously drowned in the sea of black, white, yellow and red women, children and men who were equally soaking in the change that they believed in.  I was like watching a fairytale ending -- or beginning, a Hollywood script in motion, something both surreal and dreamy during that magical moment.  Obama's two daughters Malia Ann and Sasha were  absorbing the moment with playful glee, their natural charm exposing their humble breeding for all the world to absorb.  They must have been very happy that their Daddy won as they were now going to have their own puppy when they transfer to the White House in January. And the millions who were watching across the planet must have caught Michelle, ah, Michelle, the steady love of Barack's life, the next First Lady, lip sync the indelible "I love you"  to his ear as she hugged her husband at the end of his historical speech. Awesome! I wonder if they made love last night...

And wonder, I did while chewing the amazing climax of the saga of this unknown black politician in Chicago who took notice only four years ago when he keynoted the Democratic presidential convention of John Kerry and melded his personal story with the re-visioning of the great American Dream. The son of a Kenyan and white Kansas-born woman weaved his community organizing experience in the slums of Chicago and parlayed it with the magic of the internet generation that fueled the most dazzling political tsunami this world has seen.

And as the dawn was breaking and the celebrations in the street continued, with four more states to tally in their official count, I called it a night.  But still wondered.

I wondered what the world will be like tomorrow.  I wonder if Obama's victory will indeed bring that change America and this world sorely needs. I wonder if Obama's presidency will be  eventually swallowed by the forces and interest groups in Washington that he vehemently riled against. I wonder if he will turn out to be just another American idol who got the world smitten for awhile and will do the things Americans are wont or perceived best at doing  - run roughshod all over the place as if there was no other world than the USA.

I wonder if President Obama will indeed get American troops out of Iraq soon as he promised. And apologize for his predecessor's indiscretions. Or will the new President reach out to the Palestinians and use his office to get the intransigent Israelis and Jewish lobby to accept that the Palestinians have indeed a right to their own homeland.  I wonder if Obama's victory will bring food and peace to Darfur, stop the civil strife in the Congo, halt the recession in the US that has wreaked havoc across the markets and pockets of peoples around the world. 

I wonder if he will be able to get the Burmese junta to release Aung San Syu Kyi and help nudge that country into the path of democracy. I wonder if the East Timorese political parties will take a leaf out of his stunning story and bury their hatchets and re-kindle the friendships and vision they once shared to move their nation forward. I wonder if North Korea will be more open to dismantle their nuclear plants with him at the White House, if he will close the American military facility in Guantanamo and lift the decades-old sanctions against Cuba. I wonder if Iran will welcome or reach out to him and end the bellicose posturing these past decades between these two great nations. I wonder if he will be more multilateral and heed the collective and disparate voices in and within the UN and pay up the huge financial debt his country owes this remaining space for possible world peace and harmony. I wonder if suicide bombers in the Middle East pause and give this guy a chance to prove that America is not going to bomb their children to smithereens nor support policies that siphon their oil and wealth away. I wonder if Osama Bin Laden cared.

I wonder if the climate will indeed be given a breather.

And I wonder if Obama's victory will broker peace in Mindanao in the south of the Philippines where almost half a million people have been displaced by fighting between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front; I wonder if he will cause the withdrawal of the perpetually lingering American troops in the island. I wonder if he will drop the New Peoples Army from the terrorist list. I wonder if Obama's stunning, quick and transparent victory will shame some of our national leaders who have dubious claims to their legitimacy. And inspire our own people to take control again of our politics and destiny. I wonder if we will find our own "Obama".

And I wonder if he will be able to placate and convince the millions of "Joe the Plumbers" who voted against him and my aunt who went to bed exclaiming: "he better deliver on his promises and not raise my property tax!"

Indeed, it was a night of wonder that ended with a bite of reality.

Congratulations, America! Congratulations, Mr President Obama! 

The world awaits the change you have promised. (Gus Miclat is executive director of the Davao City-based Initiatives for International Dialogue and the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict Southeast Asia regional initiator).

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