Barack Obama's victory marks a decisive generational and sociological shift in American politics. Its impact is difficult to predict at this stage, but the expectations of the majority of young people who propelled Obama to victory remain high. It may not have been a landslide, but the vote was large enough with the Democrats winning over 52 per cent of the electorate (62.4 million voters) and planting a black family firmly in the White House.

The historic significance of this fact should not be underestimated.

Ask not for whom the bell tolls. It tolls the din of imploding financial institutions, crashing stocks, choked credit markets, and government bailouts. It tolls the end of an age of reaction. What is to come may be better, it may be worse. It will be different.

What has ended is the Anglo-American era of globalization, with its ever vaster financial markets, de-regulation, and the out-sourcing of production to the cheapest available pools of labour. At the helm were the members of a ruling class nourished on bonuses, mergers and acquisitions, who never spared a thought for the people whose lives they were blithely reordering, often destroying.

The accession of the Democrat Barack Obama to the U.S. presidency marks a break with a pattern of American politics going back 40 years to the election of Richard Nixon. Most importantly, in the 2008 presidential election a majority has voted to ignore the division of their society into black America and white America.

Electing a black president will not end racism, but Obama with his campaign first for the leadership of his party, and then for the presidency, invited the American people to go beyond racial politics, and on the first Tuesday of November 2008 that invitation was accepted.

There was that moment of transcendence that came in my own living room at9:25 p.m. eastern time when MSNBC called my state, Ohio, for Barack Obama.

I knew then it was over. The only question was by how much and how soon.

But I had to contemplate what Ohio meant. I had attended the huge Obamarally in downtown Cleveland Sunday evening where rocker Bruce Springsteengave a rousing endorsement of the Senator from Illinois.

There was that moment of transcendence there too âe" when Springsteen sang"This Land Is Your Land" with the entire crowd singing along lustily. Acrowd, I might add, that represented all the racial and ethnic groups thatmake up the USA.

I grew a beard this weekend.

Yep. It's my usual anti-establishment style. I'm so sick of the sexifying ofwomen's costumes that this year I decided to dress up as a man.

It was a statement, and it was simple. A tie, some spirit gum, a bit ofblood spatter and voila! I was transformed into my personal pop-culturehero, Shaun. Shaun of the Dead.

And my beautiful nine-year old boy, Mr. P, was my Zombie.

We set out with pillowcases along the sidestreets of Roncesvalles, where theChinook-like temperatures had people hanging out on their front porches,laughing and cranking 'Thriller' from dollar store ghetto blasters.

The scene?

Me, aka Shaun, trying valiantly to grab some great low-light pictures. Mr.P, aka Zombie, running madly from house to house.

Line of the night?