In a historic triumph celebrated across all regions of the globe, Barack Obama was elected the nation’s first black president on Tuesday night.

obama9The son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas, the Democratic senator from Illinois captured the victory from Sen. John McCain in a string of wins in hard-fought battleground states, including Ohio, Florida, Virginia and Iowa. Final tallies eventually declared Obama the election winner with 364 electoral votes, over McCain’s 162 votes. 270 electoral votes are needed to win the presidency.

And with state after state being called for the Hawaiian-born Obama throughout the night, McCain eventually called the new president-elect roughly around 11 p.m. in order to concede defeat – and end his own 10 year quest for the White House.

“In a contest as long and difficult as this campaign has been, his success alone commands my respect for his ability and perseverance,” McCain said to crowds outside of a luxury hotel in Pheonix. “But that he managed to do so by inspiring the hopes of so many millions of Americans who had once wrongly believed that they had little at stake or little influence in the election of an American president is something I deeply admire and commend him for achieving.”

As the 44th president of the United States, Obama will move into the Oval Office as leader of a country that is deemed in recession and fighting two long wars – one in Iraq, the other in Afghanistan. As a result, Obama declared his first order of business as president will be to focus on the failing economy. He has also promised to withdraw most U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months.

“We are facing the greatest economic challenge of our lifetime. We will have to act swiftly to resolve it,” Obama said on Friday, with members of his heavy-hitting team of economic advisors standing behind him. “Immediately after I become president, I will confront this economic crisis head-on by taking all necessary steps to ease the credit crisis, help hardworking families, and restore growth and prosperity.’’

Obama went on to call on Congress and the Bush administration to pass another economic stimulus package similar to the one passed in the beginning of October. If an agreement cannot be reached under the current administration, Obama said it will be his chief goal when he takes office on Jan. 20.

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