“Let me spell out exactly what that change would mean if I am president,” Obama said.

He pledged “to end this war in Iraq responsibly and finish the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan,” wean the U S from Middle Eastern oil within a decade, cut taxes “for 95% of all working families,” and deliver “affordable, accessible healthcare for every single American.”

Whatever happens in November, Thursday night’s unprecedented scene was a testament to racial progress in America, a nation founded by slave owners and cleaved by civil war followed by a century of acrimony. Less than 50 years ago, people with Obama’s complexion were forbidden from voting in some states.

Far up in the stands, Lionel Washington, 24, passed his hand over his face as if he were in a dream. “I can’t believe I’m here,” said Washington, who is black. “I’m going to cry,” he said when Obama took the stage. “I can’t cry,” he said, as his eyes filled with tears. “Change is gonna come!” he screamed.

Adding to the historical resonance, Obama noted his speech came on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr’s ‘I Have a Dream’ address.

“Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!” King said that day; Obama’s triumph, standing in the shadow of those mountains, suggested the country was closer to the colourblind society King saw from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

For the most important speech of his political career, Obama chose a setting as audacious as his candidacy itself: a raised blue-carpeted platform at the center the coliseum, with a backdrop of Greco-Tuscan columns and more than a dozen American flags.

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