Barack Obama may or may not finally become President of the United States five months from now, but he has already made history this week by clinching the Democratic nomination: the first non-white candidate of one of the two major American parties for what has been described as the most powerful office in the world. To millions of his supporters, both black and white, he represents hope and the promise of change, and a recognition of how far the United States has traveled in the 44 years since Lyndon Johnson pushed through the Civil Rights Act in the aftermath of the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. To hundreds of millions more around the world who have avidly followed the White House dream of this American senator with a black Kenyan father, he represents the prospect that the US could soon be led by a man who has firsthand knowledge of how people in less developed societies actually live.
Having said that, Mr Obama is still a good distance from the presidency: he faces a long, hard battle against the Republicans' John McCain, in which he will have to pull out all his wits to counter not just the race factor but also suggestions that he is too inexperienced to handle the demands made on America's commander-in-chief. Mr McCain, his rival, a decorated war hero and seasoned in the ways of Washington, is likely to keep hammering away at this point in the months ahead and Mr Obama will have his work cut out to persuade voters otherwise. And then there is the question of Hillary Clinton. The former First Lady had secured almost as much popular support in the primaries as Mr Obama, and her candidacy too was historic: if she won, she would have been America's first woman President.
Now, with Mr Obama having secured a majority of delegates, she is on the point of withdrawing from the contest; but what many Democrats would really like is that the two team up instead on a so-called "dream ticket". With Ms Clinton as his vice-presidential running mate, or so the reasoning goes, Mr Obama will become a far stronger candidate against his Republican opponent. Millions of her supporters - white women in particular, to whom she has become a powerful symbol - would then, it is hoped, come out in large numbers to back the Democratic ticket in November. This is an option he is said to be considering, but against the advantages of having a Clinton on the ticket - and these are many - will be a few disadvantages.
Mr Obama has come thus far on the promise of change - of doing things differently from the way they have traditionally been done in Washington: this will get severely diluted if Ms Clinton, the classic insider, were to be his number two, and with the perennial shadow of ever-popular former President Bill Clinton in the background. The task before the next occupant of the White House is not easy: the United States is easily the most disliked country in the world today and repairing the damage that George W. Bush has inflicted on America's image abroad will require a lot of dexterity. If Mr Obama can persuade the American people that he can do this a lot better than Mr McCain, his chances in November will be that much brighter.
