EVEN if he had failed in his bid for the presidency, Barack Obama would have succeeded in transforming the face of US politics, and possibly changing forever the way Americans think.

In the event he pulled off a feat that was not only historic but revolutionary, and perhaps even miraculous. He was born, after all, in a country where it was unthinkable until very recently that a black person could be nominated by one of the major parties, let alone become president.

The times, it is clear, are changing in America. A majority of citizens have let it be known, in emphatic fashion, that they want their nation to pursue a different course, a new direction. Given the enormity of the problems inherited by the president-elect, the US may continue to falter in areas of governance, economic resurrection and foreign policy. But pause and look at the fine print, which ought really to be in bold. The nation’s social fabric has been strengthened immeasurably: it has been to the darner’s, the cleaner’s and then back to the people.

Putting a black man in the White House is a staggering achievement for America where millions of voters chose this year to look at the person, not his race. This wholehearted embrace of multiculturalism will also lift America’s battered image abroad and tell the world that better things may – and that’s a big may, admittedly – be expected of a superpower that has ridden roughshod over real and imagined adversaries in the last eight years when intellect and the White House became mutually exclusive. George W. Bush’s utterances may have been a source of amusement abroad but were also a source of shame for educated Americans.

It has been said that Obama’s bid for the top job in Washington was more a movement than a campaign, on the grounds that movements inspire while campaigns are either just supported or opposed. And inspire he certainly did. He became a symbol of change, and with his oratorical genius and serene demeanour led many to believe that it was time to turn not just the leaf but to close a chapter. And that, yes, it could be done. John McCain, in contrast, represented for the majority a continuation of the past – and a moribund past at that. He ran a decent campaign, however, for he is a person who has always distanced himself from the ultra-right-wing fringe of his party. Even if that position lost him some votes, it wouldn’t have been decisive.

The world awaits how America will reposition itself – or not. Here in Pakistan, Obama’s earlier take on the issue of militancy was sometimes seen as somewhat short-sighted and belligerent. The US certainly cannot go it alone without the support of Pakistan (that is a reality that America must acknowledge publicly if it is an honest broker). But Pakistan too has to understand that a different mood now prevails in Washington. There will be a clear tendency on the part of our patrons to pour money into democracy as opposed to autocracy.