Why he may not be Oblairma....

5m votes from a population of 300m is hardly a landslide, and that means there are going to be a great many Americans who are going to be feeling seriously disenfranchised once the dust settles, and they realise that they have no sustainable influence of any sort left at any level of Federal government, apart from the technical ability to filibuster in the Senate.

Comparisons with Blair are valid at some levels, but Tony Blair had the advantage of 10 years worth of Tory financial preparation to squander when he bowled up all teeth and rhetoric. Oblairma has nothing in the Republican kitty but more challenges ahead. However, he does have a vastly more attractive wife and family, and a deputy who is not a boorish Neanderthal loose cannon, albeit Joe Biden appears to be most boring sort of career politician.

Oblairma is also a democrat masquerading as a democrat - Blair's first move as leader was to bury scary Old Labour, showing that he was fundamentally ashamed of the party, and willing to anything to get elected. Commentators say reassuringly that Obama knows what he doesn't know, and knows how to handle advisors; as history shows, Blair actually knew almost nothing about anything and relied on Mandeslon and Campbell to pull the strings while he left Brown a completely unfettered run at the economy.

McCain and Palin are not the sort of tedious "do nothing, say nothing edgy" career politicians that we and the US seem to be saddled with these days. Both had interesting backgrounds, but it's more than understandable that the yanks felt the reps had been given long enough and the country was in a mess. If Sarah Palin gets an education and an insight into evolution and the ways of the world, she may well be an interesting future prospect - but with McCain at 72 years old, the Reps were plainly stretching their credibility past the limit.

So, the very best of British to Obama. The world desperately needs a credible and respected USA and President once again, and whatever anyone thinks, Obama was always far more likely to get off to start with global goodwill than the alternative. It will be interesting to see how he gets "tested" by the usual suspects; and let's hope the kevlar does its stuff.