To quote The Guardian's US Elections Liveblog (their term, not mine) at the 11 pm EST mark, I'm not American -- am I allowed to feel pride?

Because that's exactly how I felt last night just past 4 am GMT when they called it for Obama... and that's exactly the way I feel now.

I still maintain that he, as well as John McCain if he had won, would not have a clue what to do when he gets to the White House given the magnitude of the problems facing the US today.

Still, he embodies a new era of change and hope for a nation which has so much impact and influence in the world.

And as Reverend Jesse Jackson put it, if an African-American can get to the highest office in the US, why can't this happen in Britain or France? For that matter, why can't a Latino woman become President of the United States? Indeed. Why can't anyone succeed if they put their hearts and minds to it?

On another note, check out Bloomberg's excellent article on how the race was won by the candidate who took the biggest risks and made the fewest mistakes.