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Barack Obama: President of the United States
Barack Obama
Newly-elected US president says, "Marriage is between a man and a woman."
"supporters for the Democratic senator stood at 51.3%, against 47.4% for his opponent, John McCain"
Barack Obama has been elected as the first black president of the United States.
In the closing vote, supporters for the Democratic senator stood at 51.3%, against 47.4% for his opponent, John McCain. It is projected that Obama seized Ohio, New Mexico, Iowa, Virginia, Florida, Colorado and Nevada, which were all Republican states in 2004.
Polls found that the deciding factor for most was economy policy, with nine out of ten stating that the race of the candidates was not significantly important. Many felt that they had voted in a monumental election that would change America 'on every level'.
At a victory rally in Chicago the president-elect said:
"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.
"It is the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled, Americans who send a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states - we are and always will be the United States of America."
He continued:
"Even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime - two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.
"The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. But America - I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there."
Despite his claims for an improved and better country, on the eve of the US elections Obama said in an interview with MTV that he believed 'marriage is between a man and a woman'.
He did however reaffirm his opposition to Proposition 8, the proposed ballot initiative to take away gay couples' rights to marry in California. The new president stated:
"When you start playing around with constitutions just to prohibit somebody who cares about another person, it just seems to me that's not what America is about.
"Usually, our constitutions expand liberties, they don't contract them."
He went on to describe Proposition 8 as 'unnecessary' and spoke in favour of civil unions that benefit same-sex couples with the same rights as heterosexual married couples.
Early results show that Proposition 8 could be passed, effectively banning same-sex marriage in California.
