A defining moment
Washington: 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.
Text: IANS
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Image: US presidential elect Barack Obama is seen with his wife Michelle in a family snapshot from their October 18, 1992 wedding day released by Obama`s presidential campaign in 2008.
