Party time: America celebrates

Spontaneous election partying has gripped the US

(GETTY IMAGES)

Six blocks from the White House where George Bush was eating coconut cake in honour of his wife's 62nd birthday, the Busboys and Poets watering hole exploded with excitement as CNN declared Barack Obama the winner.

"Yes we did. Yes we did," the patrons bellowed in full voice, as they poured on to 14th Street to join a torrent of people heading to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, to inspect their new president's home and jeer the incumbent.

All over the country there were spontaneous election parties, as knots of fear turned into the certainty of victory. Crowds filled New York's Times Square as though it was New Year's Eve. From sea to shining sea, people poured on to the streets and instant block parties sprang up,.

In San Francisco there were scenes of jubilation as though the flower power era of Haight-Ashbury had dawned again, and perfect strangers cheered and embraced one another. In Detroit, carloads of ecstatic Obama supporters swarmed past the bronze sculpture of black boxer Joe Louis' fist, honking horns and cheering through open windows. "The history, the struggle, it's been a long time," said 48-year-old Cheryl Stephenson.

Back in the nation's capital, a spontaneous midnight party formed outside the gates of the White House where the servants were tidying up after President Bush had spent the evening celebrating his wife Laura's birthday. "They shared a meal of some of her favourite dishes and coconut cake," press secretary Dana Perino, told reporters without a hint of irony.

There was no cake for the foot soldiers of the Obama revolution crowding into the tiny Lafayette Park outside. One visitor described it as "Catalonia liberated by the Trotskyists, so full of emotion, good feeling and overwhelming excitement".

The last time so many black people marched along Washington's 14th Street at midnight – the line that separates blacks from whites in America's most segregated city – was the night of Martin Luther King's assassination. Most of the street was burnt to the ground and troopers had to defend the White House from the mob.

But in the early hours of yesterday, even some of the police were joining in the celebrations. The crowd pushing up against the barriers of White House sang "Nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey hey hey, goodbye," followed by chants of "Whose house? Whose house? Obama's house. Obama's house."

Those who had stayed home but were eager to devour every last drop of the President-elect's remarkable journey, logged on to Amazon Books, sending his two memoirs, skyrocketing back on to the bestseller list. Dreams From My Father, the autobiography penned at a time when few had even heard of Barack Obama, and his more political manifesto Audacity of Hope, shot back into the top 25.

Some of the Democrat's more famous supporters were planning to mark the occasion in their own special way. Will.i.am, the Black Eyed Peas leader who created the hit "Yes We Can" video, was preparing to release his new masterpiece to commemorate the historic victory. It was to be the same formula of video testimonials from celebrities, only this time entitled "It's A New Day".

Back at Busboys and Poets the election party was in full swing. It is one of Washington DC's few crossover meeting places where black and white rub shoulders.

And at midnight on Wednesday, looking across the crowded room, Tiffany Payton embraced her friend Barbara Mack, tears of unspeakable joy streaming down their faces.