This is more than a vote for change

IT IS a sublime moment - Barack Obama to succeed George W. Bush, an affirmation of America, its foundation mission, its abiding dreams.

The American people have turned the page. This is more than a vote for change. It is a act of renewal, a turning point in American history and a quest for a better nation.

The American people chose Obama yet most of the world also wanted Obama - that invests his presidency with a potential authority unknown in history and an opportunity to touch not just Americans but people around the world.

Amid this night's euphoria in America, the depth of its current crisis is daunting. President-elect Obama faces the most compelling and challenge agenda of any new incumbent for more than half a century.

The expectations vested in Obama's presidency are huge. Yet so is the political capital on which he can draw to unite the nation and chart a new course.

He will require political skills as outstanding as the oratorical skills he has displayed over the past nine months. His victory is a special and moving vindication for African-Americans. But Obama must also transcend his origins from the Democratic Party left to pioneer a new vision of his country.

The first test is the economic/financial crisis. It is a test of confidence and policy. Obama needs to get the US institutions lending, minimise the damage to the real economy and sketch an economic strategy based upon a balance between markets, incentive and intervention.

America is at war. Obama is a new war leader. His task is to disengage over time in Iraq, support Afghanistan and re-think Pakistan. America's friends and its enemies will test him. From the start Obama needs to governs from strength, exercise prudence, encourage his allies and mobilise the goodwill of people around the world towards his election. Obama's should be a presidency that re-defines the nature of American power in its hard and soft dimensions.