WASHINGTON - Americans elected Democrat Barack Obama as their first black president today, in a transformational election which will reshape US politics and reposition the United States on the world stage.
Obama, 47, will be inaugurated the 44th US president on January 20, 2009, and inherit an economy mired in the worst financial crisis since the 1930s, two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and a nuclear showdown with Iran.
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VIDEO: Wolpe on Obama's victory
YOUR SAY: President Barack Obama
PHOTOS: America casts its vote
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The president-elect told a crowd of supporters in Chicago that "change has come to America".
"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where any things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive ... who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer," Senator Obama said.
Senator McCain shouldered the blame for his sweeping defeat, telling supporters "the failure is mine".
Obama solidified traditional Democratic states and cut deep into the Republican territory which his rival needed to control to win the White House.
His historic inauguration will complete a stunning ascent to the pinnacle of US and global politics from national obscurity just four years ago and close an eight-year era of turbulence under President George W Bush.
He will take office with Democrats holding a monopoly in power in Washington, after an epochal election which sparked a rare generational and political realignment and finally snuffed out an era of Republican control.
Obama is promising to renew bruised ties with US allies, and to engage some of the most fierce US foes like Iran and North Korea. He has vowed to pass tackle climate change and provide health care to all Americans.
His presidency also marks a stunning cultural shift, with Obama, the son of Kenyan father and white mother from Kansas, the first African American president of a nation still riven by racial divides.
