THIS AND OTHER ESSAYS WILL BE PUBLISHED IN A COLLECTION BY PAUL TIYAMBE ZELEZA, BARACK OBAMA AND AFRICAN DIASPORAS: DIALOGUES AND DISSENSIONS, AYEBIA PUBLISHING [1] (Oxford, U.K.) and OHIO UNIVERSITY PRESS [2] (Athens, OH, USA) in Fall 2009. LOOK OUT FOR THE BOOK!!!

Senator Barack Obama has done it! He is the Democratic Party's U.S. Presidential Party nominee after a grueling battle, the first African American in U.S. history to rise to such dizzying political heights. On February 20, I posted the following commentary which sought to explain Senator Obama's dazzling political performance. That was before the Reverend Wright's sermons and 'bitterness' remarks and the white working class were raised as road blocks to his relentless march to the nomination. He survived them all. As we celebrate this historic victory, however, we need to start asking hard questions of what a possible Obama presidential victory and administration  would mean for the Pan-African world. I will be offering my reflections on this in due course.