This past Tuesday, November 4, 2008 at 11 p.m. EST, the land slid tectonically; a centuries-old structure of exclusion crumbled; and the global political landscape changed forever: Barack Obama was decisively elected President of the United States.

People around the world celebrated in caves, shanties, apartment buildings and castles alike. They hugged in cobblestone streets, they cheered in pubs, they cried together in crowds of people whom they didn’t know personally but with whom they shared the most personal of feelings: the once-elusive feeling of hope.

They looked on in admiration as Americans elected the first world leader.

We live in a world where bad mortgage lending practices in the United States can cause an 11 percent one-day drop on Japan’s stock exchange.

We live in a world where (according to www.iftheworldcouldvote.com), if all six billion-plus of us could have voted, we would have elected Obama with 87 percent support, and where he was the favored candidate in 99 percent of countries.

We live in a world where 15 percent of Canadians believe America’s election is so important that they would forgo their own country’s ballot for a chance to cast one south of the border.

We live in a world that has outgrown national politics.

This is not America-centrism. This is not to deny national pride. This is being realistic.

The U.S. president wields power that touches the lives of almost all human beings in some way. Obama’s election is a sign of hope for these people, reassurance that after eight years of dwindling hope the world is in good hands.

Obama is acutely aware of his role as world leader as well as American president and explains so in his acceptance speech: “To those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.”

Obama’s global support resonates from his universal, united approach. He is the first politician who transcends all borders — political, partisan, cultural, class, and ethnic.

Not only is Obama diverse in his heritage — a North American man of African and European descent with a childhood in Asia and a Middle Eastern middle name — he is a man who takes pride in harmonizing these diverse cultures by virtue of their shared humanity.

He is the first successful politician of the first truly international generation — perhaps the Internet generation — where the other side of the world is a few key-taps away.

Obama’s plan to reform the United Nations rather than hold it in contempt as his predecessors did is proof of his commitment to building a world in which humanity is not qualified by citizenship.

He will bring America back to the world after eight years under the Bush Doctrine (shoot first, ask questions later).

He understands that the best way to protect America from terrorism is to help build a world in which the inequalities that fuel terrorism are eliminated, rather than Bush’s (and McCain’s) plan to cut Hydra’s heads off as they present themselves.

McCain and his generation of thought bowed out gracefully when he conceded to Obama shortly after the election results rolled in. McCain realizes that his era of politics has come to a close, and can take pride in knowing that he laid the necessary groundwork for Obama to take his country into the future.

Obama is the face of a better tomorrow for both America and the rest of the world. He is simultaneously of the people and a model to which we all can aspire.

He flourished in soil we thought unfit for politicians. He was nurtured by grassroots movements who nominated him as their voice. He grew from the ground up to the sky rather than from the top down.

Obama does not represent blacks, whites, or any other artificial denomination. He represents human beings.

“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy,” Obama said triumphantly in his acceptance speech, “Tonight is your answer.”

He reminds us that humans are as infinitely capable of redemption as they are of damnation.

And the damn nation (see Rev. J. Wright) redeemed itself this past Tuesday.

There will now be another generation of people who believe that America can realize its greatest aspiration to be a place where anything can happen. A place where the American Dream is a call to greatness rather than a cruel joke. A place of progress.

Humanity has come so far.

To tailor a sentiment I share with Michelle Obama, Nov. 4, 2008 was the first time in my life I was proud to be human because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback.

Our expectations for Obama’s presidency are unprecedented, and the road ahead is perilous in many ways, but he provides the world with hope and leadership to guide us to a better place.

“I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to,” Obama stressed. “It belongs to you.”

He belongs to us.

Cody Gault is a contributing columnist at The Sun. He is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. Contact him at cgault@cornellsun.com