With this comprehensive victory by Barack Obama, the world has experienced a paradigm shift with respect to how people of colour (usually read black people) are viewed. This is significant given the profile of the United States of America in the global context.

While the election was not necessarily a referendum on race, positive race relations will be the beneficiary. It is also a testament to the people of the USA to have the courage to unshackle themselves from the cultural reality of their historical experience, to elect a black man as president, only a mere 40 years after assassinating the dreamer.

Martin Luther King's dream has been realised due to the awakening of a new generation. The world will be better as a result of this comprehensive victory by Obama. We join in our prayers for and with him that he will lead with the courage of his conviction.

- Lawrence A Nicholson is co-academic director-MIS: Msc. & PhD, Mona School of Business, University of the West Indies

Pennsylvania has always been blue. Just John McCain tried to make it a red state. With Ohio, I think Obama realised it was an important state to have and put in the work and as such was victorious.

The mood expressed by blacks will be more of a mixed one - time for celebrations but also reflections. But now that Mr Obama has actually won, we must prove to the detractors that we actually deserve to be in this particular position.

Blacks must now work even harder to prove that it was not by accident, but attainable.

The first order of business for Obama is to stabilise the economy, try to cut government expenditure to achieve some sort of fiscal surplus to deal with social ills he enunciated on the campaign such as health care.

- Dr Densil Williams, lecturer in the department of management studies, at the University of West Indies, Mona:

I have been arguing for years that America was ripe for a democratic victory. It was just waiting for the right people to come along.

The demographics of America have changed with minorities turning out in huge numbers contributing to the election. The economy was particularly important for Barack Obama taking the critical states and as such being victorious.

The downturn with the economy made it an almost impossible uphill battle for any Republican candidate to win this election.

- Dr John Rapley, director of Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI):

In terms of my work and travel around the world, people do assume Barack Obama's win can cause a renewal, a change. I do hope and pray that this victory will mean a new day and a fresh beginning for Cuba and Haiti.

- Reverend Dr Roderick Hewitt, Minister of the Hope United Church, Old Hope Road,

St Andrew