President-elect Barack Obama announced Monday that Robert Gates would remain as defense secretary, making President Bush’s Pentagon chief his own as he seeks to wind down the U.S. role in Iraq. Obama picked former campaign rival Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state.

At a news conference, Obama also introduced his picks of retired Marine Gen. James Jones as White House national security adviser, former Justice Department official Eric Holder as attorney general, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as secretary of homeland security, and Susan Rice as UN Ambassador.

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photography by NPhocus Photography | Photos Coming Soon »

Many of us (Obama supporters) have become accustomed to the close-minded “far right” like Bill O’Reilly as they continue to find outlandish reasons as to why B.O. isn’t fit to be president. In most cases, Mr. O’Reilly sits within the confines and comfort of his highly-rated show…here’s a good look at his lack of control as he pays a visit to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Enjoy.

BY LEILONI DE GRUY & OLU ALEMORU, Wave Newspaper Staff Writers

Millions have been galvanized by the election of President-elect Barack Obama, and L.A. backers vow to sustain the momentum for change.

More than a week after an historic election that saw the United States elect its first African-American president, some of the euphoria has subsided as President-elect Barack Obama turns his attention away from campaigning and toward building a new government.

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African American men wonder if the wider culture will finally start to see them as true equals or if the president-elect will just be seen as yet another exception.

By Carla Hall and Marjorie Miller (LA Times)

Hakeem Holloway may be a classically trained musician who has played with orchestras around the world, but when he crosses an L.A. city street wearing his typical uniform of jeans and a hoodie, white women have been known to eye him, a black man, and clutch their purses more tightly to their sides. 

Frank Gilliam, the dean of UCLA’s School of Public Affairs, sometimes flies first class. When he does, white passengers often ask Gilliam, who is black, if he’s a record producer — if they talk to him at all.

Even as millions of black Americans revel in Barack Obama’s victory and plan trips to his inauguration that are turning into pilgrimages, many still wonder if this transformative moment in American politics will truly transform perceptions of black men. How much, if at all, they ask, will Obama’s victory shatter that glass ceiling?

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by Femi Ajetunmobi

And I cried!

I saw Jesse Jackson in the crowd weeping. I saw Oprah Winfrey sobbing in the crowd on the shoulders of strangers. I saw the young and the old, blacks and whites and coloreds, rich and poor, famous and the unknowns, holding hands and hugging, screaming and crying, all at the same time, completely overwhelmed by the enormity of the moment. I held my emotions in check during all these. I saw people celebrating in Sydney, Australia. I saw people jumping up and down in Nairobi, Kenya. I saw people displaying unmitigated joy in Hong Kong. From the East coast to the West coast, from North America to Africa, every one recognized the significance of the moment. Still, I held my emotions in check.

Never before have I seen so many people gathered in one place – like they did in Grant Park, Chicago, that night – reveling in the magic of the moment. Never before have I seen the world come together in the moment – like we all did on Tuesday night – to celebrate a night that would be talked about from generations to generations and for centuries until the end of time. It was one of those moments that we would all be able to say, years down the line, that we knew exactly where we were when Barack Hussein Obama was elected the first black leader of the free world!

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this was very impressive. enjoy: