Reporting on Election Results; Harlem Reveling in Obama's Historic Victory
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: It is now 5:00 a.m. on the East Coast. It's 2:00 a.m. in the west. And if you're just waking up, it is a new day in America. Barack Obama elected, the 44th president of the United States. He will become the nation's first black president. This will be 136 years after black men were first granted the right to vote in this country. The first and second families, drinking it all in on stage last night in front of an unprecedented election night crowd in Chicago's Grant Park. The president-elect promising to be everyone's commander in chief.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is your victory. And I know you didn't do this just to win an election. I know you didn't do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime. Two wars. A planet in peril. The worst financial crisis in a century. Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us. There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage or pay their doctor's bills or save enough for their child's college education. There's new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools to build and threats to meet, alliances to repair. The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you, we as a people will get there.</s>OBAMA: There will be setbacks, and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president and we know the government can't solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you especially when we disagree. And above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it's been done in America for 221 years -- block by block. Brick by brick. Calloused hand by calloused hand. What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change and that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice. So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers. In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let's resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let's remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the values of self reliance and individual liberty and national unity. Those are values that we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. And to those Americans who -- whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.</s>ROBERTS: Well, this morning the celebrations continue and the transition is already in motion. The best political team on television is bringing you this historic moment and reaction from across the country. First to our Suzanne Malveaux who is live at Grant Park in Chicago. And Suzanne, it's been a long -- almost 22 months to get to this point, but for the winner, a lot of work still ahead.</s>SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely right, John. A lot of work and the campaign is very much aware of that. Barack Obama starts his day today like many other dads who's going to take his two daughters to school. Then he's going to head to the gym. But then after that, everything is going to change. He's going to be in meetings all day with his top advisers here in Chicago to plan his transition to the presidency.</s>MALVEAUX (voice over): Barack Obama making history as the first African-American U.S. president-elect. From his home state of Illinois, to his father's homeland in Kenya, on Main Street to Wall Street and -- and outside the gates of the White House.</s>MALVEAUX: John, sorry about that technical problem with the tease there. But one thing that really stood out last night in Barack Obama's speech was the tone and the -- call for, really, the need to move forward here and to do it rather quickly in this transition. It was a rather somber speech. They talked about change and they talked about everything that needs to be done. But he really set the stage here for a transition that need to happen very quickly. He talked about Afghanistan. He talked about Iraq, the soldiers that are there, and he talked about the economic crisis. And so you really got a sense that this is a team that's going to roll up their sleeves and get to work right away. I talked to his chief of staff last night, Anita Dunn, who said expect to -- actually get some announcements about the team members on the transition. Not White House positions necessarily this week, but certainly in the weeks to come. You're going to hear those kinds of things coming out of this group. It is obviously a very serious tone. Not a lot of the -- you saw the celebration outside it, but Barack Obama pretty much focused on what needs to be done -- John?</s>ROBERTS: We should point out, Suzanne, that when you -- when you say chief of staff, Anita Dunn, that's the campaign chief of staff. He's not yet chosen a chief of staff.</s>MALVEAUX: Right.</s>ROBERTS: ... for his White House team yet.</s>MALVEAUX: Right.</s>ROBERTS: That was rumored to be Congressman Rahm Emanuel. He's certainly somebody with a wealth of experience. There's obviously a lot of work to get done. There are a lot of pressing issues that facing the president-elect. He has what will be a very short time to try to get prepared for it. About nine or ten weeks at the outside. But I'm sure a lot of folks at home are wondering, it's been almost two years on the road, all of these campaign stops, all these fundraisers, all of this work. Is he going to take any time off?</s>MALVEAUX: Boy, I think that's the big question for all of us. I know that one thing, obviously, it's a sad occasion that he and Maya, obviously, are going to attend, the funeral arrangement of his grandmother who passed away the day before the election. So that is going to be a very -- a personal matter that they are going to go ahead and take care of. But we expect that he is going to be spending some time here in Chicago, obviously, with his family. He's also going to be spending time in Washington. The transition team will be on both sides. As you know as it gets closer to January, much more time in Washington, D.C. But he is the kind of person -- he talks about it all the time that he really misses his daughters tremendously as well as his wife, Michelle. They give him a great deal of encouragement and confidence. So he is going to take a little bit of time to at least to be with his family -- John?</s>ROBERTS: Suzanne Malveaux for us this morning from Grant Park, or what remains of it. Suzanne, thanks so much. Chicago's Grant Park, like New York's Time Square on New Year's Eve, last night. Waves of Barack Obama supporters estimated to close to a quarter of a million strong. All cramming in to be a part of the moment in the biggest election night rally in memory. Our Alina Cho was among the masses and she joins us now live. It was quite a celebration last night there, Alina.</s>ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was really incredible, John. As you've seen in all of the pictures that we have been showing, nearly a quarter of a million strong, a lot of regular supporters, a lot of dignitaries and celebrities, too, among them, Oprah Winfrey. Remember, Oprah is really one of Barack Obama's original supporters when she endorsed Obama. America really sat up and took note. So it was no surprised that she was at Grant Park for this celebration, for this historic night. I had an opportunity to go one-on-one with Oprah and I wanted to know what she thought of President-elect Obama.</s>CHO (on camera): How does it feel tonight?</s>OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST, OBAMA SUPPORTER: It feels like hope won. It feels like it's not just victory for, obviously, Barack Obama. It feels like America did the right thing. It feels like there's a shift in consciousness. It fees like something really big and bold has happened here, like nothing ever in our lifetimes did we expect this to happen.</s>CHO: As you can see there, Oprah really, really enthusiastic. Also in the crowd, Brad Pitt, the Black Eyed Peas, Spike Lee -- quite a lineup. Also among the crowd there tonight so many politicians who worked so hard over these 22 months to get Barack Obama elected.</s>CHO: It's been a long 22 months, so now what?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, now we govern. And now we turn around the economy and we reach out to working class and middle class people who've been left behind, and put the country back together.</s>REP. RAHM EMANUEL (D), ILLINOIS: This is a special night. And I think Barack -- President-elect Obama said it exactly right, that this is a change and it's an opportunity -- it's a chance for the type of change we wanted.</s>CHO: Are we looking at the next White House chief of staff?</s>EMANUEL: No, you're looking at the father of three kids.</s>CHO: So Rahm Emanuel, the Democratic congressman from Illinois, remaining tight lipped about whether he'll be officially part of an Obama administration. But safe to say, the fourth ranking member of the House has enthusiastically offered the president-elect his help and I have a sneaking suspicion that some of Obama's old friends from Chicago may be moving to the beltway come January -- John?</s>ROBERTS: Alina, there was some speculation that Rahm Emanuel might take a run at the presidency in 2012 if Barack Obama didn't make it, but I guess, that's out the window so perhaps he's got a fallback position. Alina Cho for us this morning -- Alina, thanks so much. By the way, we want you to be a part of our special coverage this morning. We're asking quick vote questions every hour and here's the one for this hour. Did the media influence the outcome of the election? Call our toll free number, 866-979-VOTE. That's 866-979-VOTE. Or you can text your answer to 94553. That's 94553. After all of the talk of race and this so-called Bradley effect in this election, results from the exit polls. What voters said about how much weight they gave to race in the end. You're watching the most politics in the morning.