BARACK OBAMA TELLS AMERICA: 'The best is yet to come' (GALLERY and VIDEO)
Cheryl Mullin
RE-ELECTED US president Barack Obama has told ecstatic supporters the "best is yet to come" in a victory speech in his home city of Chicago.
Flanked by wife Michelle and daughters Malia And Sasha, the jubilant Democrat congratulated opponent Mitt Romney on a "hard fought campaign" and revealed he would work with the former Massachusetts governor to take the country forward.
His victory speech lasted for almost 25 minutes, but one message underlined his every word: “The best is yet to come, but we have more work to do.”
Thanking the thousands of supporters in the room, he told them: “Tonight, more than 200 years after a former colony won the right to determine its own destiny, the task of perfecting our union moves forward.
“It moves forward because of you, it moves forward because you reaffirmed the spirit that has triumphed over war and oppression, the spirit that has lifted this country from the depths of despair to the great heights of hope, the belief that while each of us will pursue our own individual dreams, we are an American family and we rise or fall together as one nation and as one people.
A word cloud depicting President Obama's victory speech
“Tonight, in this election, you, the American people, reminded us that while our road has been hard, while our journey has been long, we have picked ourselves up, we have fought our way back, and we know in our hearts that for the United States of America, the best is yet to come.”
The president thanked every campaigner and voter - acknowledging with a wry smile the patience of those who had waited in lengthy queues to register their preference - telling them whether they were Obama or Romney voters, they had made a difference.
Obama said he had congratulated Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan on what he called a “hard-fought campaign”, saying that they had battled each other fiercely because they cared so much about the future of their country.
The president applauded the Romney family, including Mitt Romney's father George, a former governor of Michigan, and his mother Lenore, once a Senate candidate herself, saying the family had “chosen to give back to America through public service'', a legacy that he said should be honoured.
He said he looked forward to sitting down with Romney in the weeks ahead to discuss where they can work together to move the country forward.
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