From a virtual unknown outside his home state of Illinois to the most powerful man on earth, Barack Obama has come a long way in less than two years with his historic election as the first African American US president.

But even before the youthful Democratic senator vanquished Republican John McCain, a Vietnam War veteran and a national hero, Obama signalled momentous change in America’s political scene as the first black person to become the presidential candidate of a major US party.

Obama himself described as a “defining moment for our nation” his clinching the Democratic nomination after a long and gruelling battle against former first lady Hillary Clinton – a contest that gripped the US from January to June 2008.

Obama, 47, who has been able to attract crowds of 100,000 people or more to his rallies and generate a buzz seldom seen in US politics with his message of change, is an ardent admirer of Mahatma Gandhi, the pioneer of Satyagraha – resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience.
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