HARD-WON VICTORY: Barack Obama waves to the crowd after his acceptance speech at Grant Park in Chicago Tuesday night

It seems like we've been waiting for Election Day forever, many Americans, me included, since George W Bush was elected in 2000.  It's been eight long years since he "won", or since the Supreme Court, in no less than a democratic tragedy, disregarded the popular vote and installed him as commander-in-chief.

But now Democrats, liberals and the citizens who were just plain sick-and-tired of what Bush has done to the country (and to the world) can put aside our bitterness about the disastrous 2000 election results. 

It was the Republicans' turn to lose on November 4, and they lost big time.  They lost everything. 

Not only did President-elect Obama (I write those words with an irrepressible smile on my face) pull off an historic victory as the first black man to be elected to the White House, but the Democrats won both houses of Congress. 

In baseball, to use a metaphor from the traditional American past-time, they'd call this a home run.

For a man whose campaign seemed to come out of nowhere, his hopeful rhetoric and inspiring words quickly charmed a nation anxious for change in America.  As an American living overseas, I often worry that the people in other countries will think that I voted for George W Bush, that I approve of his failing policies and bungled initiatives.

My fears, however, are usually unfounded and come from my own guilt at being from a country whose leader has ruined so much for so many, all over the world. In India, especially, people have seemed just as excited as me at the prospect (now the reality) of an Obama presidency. 

Shopping for souvenirs just the other day, a Kashmiri merchant in Bangalore could talk of nothing else but the upcoming elections. 

With a giant smile (similar to the one I am wearing now), he reassured me, "Nobody wants George Bush.  Not even Americans.  It is okay. We know."

I was so grateful for his sympathy (an American getting sympathy about her country's politics from a man from Kashmir!), that I proceeded to buy so many scarves that I couldn't possibly wear them all in one lifetime.

President-elect Obama (I still cannot suppress my happiness at writing this phrase) will no doubt be celebrating his victory Tuesday night.  It is well deserved.  But he inherits a failing economy, increasing unemployment and, lest we forget, two wars. 

Let him celebrate his historic election tonight; let us all celebrate.  Tomorrow, though, he will have his work cut out for him.