First in Africa.  Kenya seems to be still in the grip of Obama-mania, from reports I’ve heard.  And why not? There is much to celebrate.  I also hope that the extremely popular “Obama - the musical” will transfer from its Nairobi home to London at some point.

In Rwanda, the day after the election also saw great scenes of jubiliation.  Some of those moments are captured on this video. 

What is most moving and significant on the footage is the re-emergence of a positive reaction to America and what it stands for.  That is the impact from day one of Obama’s victory, and it can’t be understated.  I was mocked, along with many others, for believing that the symbolism of his candidacy and the rhetoric of Obama’s message of hope and change was important, as well as the actual policies he might implement.  But the change in mood and perceptions that has been happened not just within a few African countries but throughout much of the world, indicates what can be achieved this way.

Here in the UK we are still feeling it too.  Over two weeks on from election day, I continue to proudly wear my Obama badges and my Obama hat. And people - especially London’s black community - continue to respond enthusiastically.  Every so often, I get an “O-bam-aaaaa!” cry as I walk past, or a compliment about the badges and sometimes a request for one.  I could have made some useful cash by buying a whole load of “yes we did”-type merchandise from the sellers outside Grant Park and flogging it here.  But that’s not my style. 

On Tuesday I attended an Obama victory party hosted by one of the main Obama UK meet-up groups.  I’d never been to one of their meetings or events before, so was a first-timer.  Over 30 people were there: a range of ages, nationalities and backgrounds.  Most were not politics nuts like me.  Some people had connections with America, or were American citizens themselves; but by no means a majority.  Among the people I chatted to were a guy from the Ivory Coast, a Labour party organiser from Stevenage, a woman from Missouri who had ran a local Obama campaign office there, a Bostonian performance artist with her English partner, and a retired couple who had gone out to North Carolina to do phone-canvassing and volunteer recruitment that final week of the campaign.  One woman had flown back to her native California so she could vote in person and just experience election day - and the result - firsthand.  There was even someone else who had been in Grant Park, Chicago for election night.  She had her prayers answered in the same way I had in Denver back in August - a ticket for the main event received at the last minute thanks to someone’s generosity.   As well as toasts to Obama, another part of the evening was for people to get up and tell their election stories to the group.  The event took on the air of a revivalist meeting, as one-by-one people (including myself) recounted their journies and emotional highs.  

Tomorrow (Friday), I meet up with Meghan for the first time since Chicago: to do a last bit of filming and no doubt to swap tales of UK responses to Obama’s victory.

Donald Kipkorir in Nairobi, Kenya writes a fictional memo from Obama to his Kenyan supporters:

During the campaigns, I consistently and fondly spoke of my Kenyan roots. I am an American citizen and, on January 20, 2009, I will be America's 44th president. As a son of a Kenyan father, I know that Section 90 of your constitution bestows upon me automatic citizenship. In the fullness of time, who knows, Michelle and I may decide to come and retire in the land of my father. I know that most, if not all, Kenyans expect me to have a magic wand to your problems and aspirations. To avoid future misunderstandings, we need to agree at the outset on my limitations. And I am making candid confessions only because of my paternal heritage and the special place you hold in my life. […] America as the pre-eminent democracy, military and economic power in the world faces unique challenges which we are demanded of to resolve or lead the way. Part of our foreign policy is to ensure the safety and secure borders of Israel, safe routes of our oil supplies and commitment to our bilateral and multi-lateral allies. Kenya has always been our friend, and these ties shall now be strengthened by my heritage. Our relationship could be imperiled should your foreign policy be at odds with ours. We will never dictate your foreign policy as you are a sovereign state, but our relationship is dependent on your choices. Before I forget, there is the issue of visas and immigration to America. I know that most Kenyans, including the hundreds of thousands who live or study in America, are now expecting preferential treatment. The US citizenship and immigration services are an independent federal department that deals with issues of visa, immigration and citizenship.

The topic of visa authorization to the US for Kenyans was also revisited by Wonkie in a humorous cartoon. The article also states that the current domestic challenges facing the future Obama administration are probably too great to address anything else:

He has a lot on his plate and mostly back on home ground - from the dire financial crisis and Iraq to health care - there is no shortage of challenges. Still, surprisingly, Mr Obama has made some foreign policy commitment to Africa - e.g. assistance with funding for ARV for HIV patients. Something for Africans to be optimistic about though it’s not quite the equivalent of visa-free travel to the US that many were secretly hoping for in Kenya.

Rajiosy, a Malagasy blogger, also wants everyone to calm down from the messianic rhetoric about Obama (fr):

Ne nous emballons pas. Obama a gagné avec environ 53% des voix. Ca laisse quand même 47% de non-croyants aux Etats-Unis. Quant au reste du monde, je crois que dans les campagnes du monde, il y a un certain nombre de gens qui s’en foutent complètement. Allons, allons, l’Amérique n’est pas le nombril du monde. Arrogance (inconsciente) quand tu nous tiens…
La terre a tourné avant Obama. Elle tourne pendant Obama. Elle tournera après Obama. Cette vénération est vraiment stupide. Rappelons-nous, la foule grégaire aime bien brûler ce qu’elle a adoré.

Daschle is a classy, well-liked politician that commands respect from both sides of the isle and I am so glad to see him back after republicans from all over the country converged on South Dakota in 2004 to make sure he lost his seat after he was viewed as an “obstructionist” by the republicans for trying to stop the “Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act” in 2001 that offered a $1.4 trillion tax cut to mostly wealthy Americans. Fast forward to the situation in 2008…….need I say more?

Just glad to see Daschle back.

The Secret Service has investigated the case of a sign posted on a tree in Vay, Idaho making the suggestion of a free public hanging of Mr. Obama. In North Carolina, civil rights officials complained of threatening racist graffiti targeting Mr. Obama found in a tunnel near the North Carolina State University campus. In a Maine convenience store was a sign inviting customers to spend a dollar to join a betting pool on when Mr. Obama might fall victim to an assassin. The money would go to the person picking the date closest to when Mr. Obama was attacked. The since taken down sign cheerfully closed with “Let’s hope we have a winner.” In Denver, a group of men with guns and bulletproof vests made racist threats against Mr. Obama and sparked fears of an assassination plot during the Democratic National Convention. Just before the election, two men in Tennessee believed to be skinheads were charged with plotting to behead blacks across the country and assassinate Mr. Obama while wearing white top hats and tuxedos. In Milwaukee, police officials found a poster of Obama with a bullet going toward his head on a table in the middle of the police station.

The Secret Service also cautions that the public should not assume that any threats against Mr. Obama or his family are due to racism. However, cases of racially hateful graffiti, not necessarily directed at the Obama family, have emerged in numerous reports across the nation. I guess the public is supposed to believe that this is just an unfortunate coincidence. Chatter among white supremacists on the Internet has increased throughout the campaign and since Election Day. But again, that’s just another one of those coincidences that doesn’t necessarily mean any racial hostilities are fermenting.

With the selection of Mr. Obama as the first black president, racists and white supremacists are using the belief of anonymity to post some serious hate on the internet. There are lengthy discussion threads about what will happen now that Mr. Obama has been elected as our next president. There are a number of white nationalists and patriots who inhabit these sites making derogatory postings with racist slurs.

The Secret Service cautions that the public should not assume that any threats against Mr. Obama or his family are due to racism.

Many of these people aren’t going to do anything they say. In many of the investigations already concluded the consensus was that there was no credible threat to Mr. Obama or his family. Most of these people are pretty toothless. But the behavior of these people and the sudden upsurge in racist slurs should be a concern to anyone with a genuine interest in the condition of race relations. It is true that none of these people may pose a threat to the Obama family, but many of these people may not hesitate to take their wrath out on the nearest or most convenient person of obvious African American descent.

I would expect that if anyone was to put together a message on the internet or anywhere else saying that he or she is going to go down to the local school and kill all the people there, that person would find his or her self under an FBI microscope and facing some kind of charges, if for nothing else for making somebody in law enforcement do some work. America has a rich history of people following through on their racial hate. We also have a history of blaming the victims of racial animosity for being attacked and defending themselves. People who try to get protection from being harassed, people who try to take their concerns to law enforcement, are dismissed with a roll of the eyes. Nooses are just pranks. Threats against our black president-elect don’t need to be taken seriously. And when people are attacked for having the same obvious ethnicity as our first non white president it will be nothing but a weird coincidence of ethnicity.

Still, surprisingly, Mr Obama has made some foreign policy committment to Africa - e.g. assistance with funding for ARV for HIV patients. Something for Africans to be optimistic about though it’s not quite the equivalent of visa-free travel to the US that many were secretly hoping for in Kenya.

It is sad that Waki did not think the three year campaign of hate from Raila and the ODM chiefs against the Gikuyu was at all significant, or that it served to whip up passions to such a level that friends saw no evil in hacking their neighbours.When you see people in prominent positions calling for a Lesotho, when you see Ngilu, Orengo and the thug himself frothing against the privilege of the Gikuyu, or telling the people that Kibaki will hand over to Uhuru and the Gikuyu will rule for ever, then you know a storm is coming.

The following three men assisted by a bunch of 207 rogue parliamentarians are destroying Kenya.

The three men are: President Mwai Kibaki, Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Agriculture Minister William Ruto.

What, pray tell, was the Government of Kenya thinking when it declared Thursday, 6th November a public holiday?

The best way for all progressive thinking Kenyans to celebrate Obama's victory is to work on bringing political change to this country from the bottom up. To not just sit and grumble about the inanity of our political discourse and the Bush-esque tyranny and divisive stance of our tribal chieftains but to rally one Kenyan at a time towards the embracing of a new political dispensation.

The time is now to move away from the press conferences and donor driven palavers; the yelling of empty threats at politicians from the shelter of posh NGO offices, by the ‘activist-elites' and speak directly to our families and friends.

If America can, why can't we? We cannot because those who purport to preach the change gospel love to write concept notes, strategic plans, jingoistic communiques, jargon ridden country reports and Op-ed columns from here to new York City while the opponents of change are out in the field- face to face with the ‘real Kenyans- handing out machetes and vitriol.

If you love Barrack Obama, spend your public holiday tomorrow talking to Main Street- tell them that, even here in Kenya, WE CAN!

To bastardise JFK, ask not what Obama can do for your country but what you can do for it.

So then, my wish list.

1. All grandpas and grandmas that are still in office will go to their ranch or wherever else that can be called a retirement home, and take a good rest. Enjoy watching the beauty of the sun setting. If they must, they can also get up early and savour the rising of the sun. By all means keep off meddling into affairs of a country.

2. Issues. Anyone that aspires leadership should dwell on issues of the day. Like making the lives of ordinary people better. Building schools and hospitals and other good things.

3.Anyone that tells people to burn peoples property, maim and kill others so that he/she can become a ‘leader’, should lie still in their bed, never to rise again. Such a species does not deserve a single sniff of oxygen.

4. If you are not eloquent, or have tendencies to forget what you meant to say, or you tend to say the wrong thing, please go home and look after your goats. They need you more.

5. If you cannot sprint up the podium with your sleeves rolled up, please do as 4 above. Thank you.

6. If you are not good looking, that’s ok, for now anyway. But try to be well groomed. Brush your teeth and put on a clean shirt.

7. Once Obama has done his term or two, can he please come and do 2 terms for Kenya. I that heard he comes from Kenya, and he will only be 55 then. A lovely age to become a president especially in an African country!

That’s all for now.

En Colombia, muchas personas han sido indiferentes con estas elecciones, recuerdo que hace poco les comenté a unos compañeros que Obama iba bastante bien y una compañera me preguntó ¿Qué es Obama? ¿Quién es Obama? Es la verdadera pregunta, y en la respuesta la palabra esperanza se repite en varias ocasiones: esperanza de mirar de frente el problema del racismo y superarlo, esperanza de que el “gigante” de la historia ahora mire de forma más humana a los otros países, esto implica, por ejemplo, un cambio en políticas armamentistas (incluyendo las nucleares), en ese frecuente intento de aplastar a los otros países de forma militar y económica, en reconsiderar las intenciones de acabar con los recursos de países como el nuestro y retirar las tropas que acaban con la vida de muchas personas en Irák y que de una u otra forma modifican esta cultura.

Catalina Restrepo, who represented HiperBarrio at this year's Global Voices Summit in Budapest, shows an overview of how the Colombian media reacted to Obama's victory with screenshots from the largest newspapers and YouTube videos of reactions by Latin American leaders.

Todos hablan de lo importante de que por primera vez en la historia Estados Unidos tenga un presidente “Negro”, de que ahora si abrá un cambio, que su oratoria es increíble; y un júbilo se percibe en sus seguidores cada que hablan de todas sus cualidades, mientras algunos de sus críticos afirman que “es un blanco con piel de negro”.

Ruben Hilari, a Voces Bolivianas blogger who was recently featured by Eduardo Ávila on the Voces Bolivianas project blog, is currently visiting the U.S. in New York, where he watched on television as McCain conceded defeat and Obama declared victory.

Ayer en la noche miraba un canal latino, donde estaba reportando, el conteo de votos. Todas las personas estan sorprendidas de que haya ganado un afroamericano como es Obama. Todos hablan de que las personas afroamericanas no podian votar ni entrar en los mejores restaurantes aqui en los EEUU hace mas de 50 anos. Habia una discriminacion muy dura de aceptar.

Ruben was also impressed with John McCain's concession speech, which congratulated Obama for his victory. He says he wishes the same level of respect was shown when conservative Bolivian ex-president, Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga lost to current president, Evo Morales in Bolivia's 2005 election.

Me hubiese gustado que Tuto Quiroga con la formacion americana que de felicitaciones a Evo cuando gano en Bolivia. Porque eso es lo que ha hecho McCain felicitar a Obama. Pero en Bolivia nunca quieren aceptar su derrota. Hace rato chateamos con mi hermano desde Bolivia y el me dice que en Bolivia esta alegre El Presidente Evo. Y hay que apoyar sigue para que continue haciendo por el pais. Creo que el mundo esta cambiando a una velocidad maxima.

Finally, in Kenya - where US President-Elect Barack Obama traces his recent ancestry - Collins Oduoduor of the REPACTED project lamented the burglary of the house of Barack Obama's step-grandmother Sarah Obama in Kogelo. Here is a brief video about Sarah Obama and her community:

Collins, recalling the attack on the US Embassy in Kenya in 1998, is worried that anti-American terrorists in East Africa will target Obama's grandmother because of her link to who is now the United States' most powerful person:

Terrorist attack is not a new thing to Kenya because of what happened to the US embassy in Kenya, but the bond between the two countries is renewed, the bond is even stronger because the grandma is in Kenya and the grandson in the US busy with is campaigns and innocently exposing the grandma to the enemy of America. 9/11 is still fresh to American people and the suspect is still at large. I hope that the enemy has not started getting ideas from the local attack. Alego ko Kogelo may be the next scene on the international and local news headlines. Ok the Kenyan government has set a police base in the home of grandma; my question is why after the local attack, what if the attack could have been from the American enemies?

As for Sarah Obama, it looks like the 84-year-old may soon be on her way to Washington D.C. to bring her grandson his favorite food as he is inaugurated president of the United States of America.

Kenyan Entrepreneur was ecstatic after the announcement:

I must say that I was in a state of euphoric shock last night as I was watching Barrack Obama’s elevation to becoming the most powerful man in the world. I told someone yesterday (as I was watching his acceptance speech) that I felt like I was going through both a physical and spiritual cleansing. It was almost like Obama was cleansing my body, mind and soul of the 8 years of toxic filth and grime that the Bush presidency had imparted on my person. It was very refreshing– like walking out of a shower full of antiseptic.

Kikuyumoja, who is Kenyan, gives his view from Germany:

Obama is much more than a candidate for the 44th presidency in the United States of America.

Wheremadnessresides ponders about Obama's acceptance speech and his roots:

I watch him sometimes, and it seems to me nigh impossible that this could be the same man who drove around Nairobi in Auma’s mechanically challenged baby-blue Volkswagen Beetle and visited his Aunt who lived in Kariokor. Because these are such typical Nairobi things to do. And he describes them so casually, so matter of factly. Then, the next thing you know, he’s President-elect of the United States of America. And it sort of takes your breathe away. As well it should.

It sends a very particular resounding message from the American people, reverberating not just through the United States of America, but right across the world: If you determine it, you can be whoever you want to be. At such a time as this, you’ve got to pay homage to the American Dream, because the American Dream is ultimately the winner of this election, perched squarely on the shoulders of an unlikely candidate with an unfamiliar name and an unusual story.

In a country drunk with political patronage, bloggers are questioning whether Kenya and or Africa should expect American policy towards the continent to change overnight.

Kenyan Pundit answers the critics:

And for those (Kenyans) who are being derisive about Kenyans trying to “own” Obama. Bah! Yes, it’s unrealistic to think that his election will change U.S. policy practically as far as Kenya goes, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Kenyans going overboard with Obama-mania and what he represents for us.

Now if only we can translate our aspirations for him to our aspirations for Kenyan leaders! Would Barack Obama have made it as a Kenyan politican (or even African) - almost certainly not…we excel in trashing intellectual, ethical, different, individuals who want to participate in public service. In Obama’s own words, “…For as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on earth is my story even possible.” Lets work to change this people.

Peter Njenga urges people to tone down their expectations on Obama:

People should therefore tone down these expectations and realize that Barack Obama will work with a team that includes White House advisors and the United States Senate and Congressmen. In fact, Barack Obama himself said that there is a great challenge ahead, and some goals may not be realised even within a four year term.

ColdTusker thinks that Obama is more American than Kenyan:

So Barack was NEVER a “Kenyan” in any sense of the word. He was not born in Kenya, not raised in Kenya, not a Kenyan resident nor a Kenyan citizen.

Congrats to Obama for the victory BUT why has kibz declared a holiday to celebrate Obama's win?
What of the loss of productivity for the typical mwananchi without a cushy government job?
kibz & roocy get paid whether they work or not. Not most Kenyans.

Election day in the USA was a working day for most Americans. There are no official holidays for any of the post-election days. So if the USA marks the historic occasion with a ‘working day' why do Kenyans have a ‘holiday'?

Arefe notes that Ethiopia was not exactly ecstatic about Obama victory given that he might demand more accountability and transparency. The blogger writes:

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi offered his apparently not-so-warm congratulations to Obama saying that he is “confident that the long-standing and excellent relations that exist between the two countries and peoples will continue to be strengthened during his tenure in office.”
From this anticipated cliché apart, officials and the state media have kept quite about the possible impact of new presidency on the Ethiopian political landscape.
But well-placed sources say the government is anxious that the new Democratic administration that is taking office on January might put more pressure and demand accountability from the Ethiopian government, whose commitment to democracy is nothing more than lip service.