With the historic events of this week, maybe it is time to put things into perspective.

The election of Barack Obama was not a major surprise but inspiring nonetheless.

Although a lot is being made of his colour, the fact of the matter is that, as a candidate, he came across as more appealing and charismatic.

A lot more will be made of his race and background in the near future.

However, should we not be applauding his character and ability to give people hope?

It is a long time since the election of a president has been welcomed by people across the world.

How long this euphoria lasts is anyone’s guess but it was hard not to get swept along on what was and will remain a defining moment in world history.

It did however pose the question of how long it will be before we have a ethnic minority politician taking the reigns of this country.

You would think that there would be a steady stream of black and Asian people making a leap into the higher echelons of power.

Although some have made the leap, it has not happened as much as some would wish in recent years.

The plain fact of the matter is that religion makes a huge difference.

It was an overriding factor for the president elect, whose campaign team were forced to distance him from accusations that he was not anything but a true Christian.

Maybe the UK is different...I would like to think it is.

I also saw one TV pundit state that it is unlikely someone from Southall will rise up and become Prime Minister in the UK because the system doesn’t allow it.

But he failed to point out that while the African-Americans have been in the United States for over 200 years, many Black and Asians have only been here for a quarter of that time.

So I guess we have 150 years of catching up to do.

What is more likely to cause concern is the split politically within black and Asian people.

Over 90 per cent of black people voted for the democratic party this year.

It is unlikely that over 90 per cent of any ethnic group would vote for one particular party and candidate.

Barack Obama had a unifying effect on people throughout his campaign and his words seems to electrify a nation.

The morning after the election I was trawling through numerous websites and I saw one comment posted which seemed to describe everything beautifully.

It simply said, “Hello world...this time we didn’t make a mess of it. Yours truly, signed, A True American.”