What does Obama win mean for UK?

By Dave Howard
Newsbeat politics reporter

The power of the US president is felt in the UK and all over the globe. That's why Americans like to call him "The Leader of the Free World". Here are some of the ways we can expect him to affect our lives.

CASH

Barack Obama says his first job will be to fix the world's money problems, or, as he calls it, "the plumbing" of our finances. It's widely thought that the world recession started because of too much dodgy lending in the US housing market.

Obama takes over from George Bush, who recently said he wanted to assure "citizens around the world" that he was working to fix the problem. That means us.

Obama has already said we're facing "the worst financial crisis in a century". Pretty soon, we'll get to see what he plans to do about it.

WAR

Britain's troops are at war alongside the US in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Many say we only went to war because we promised to support America. Now, Obama says he wants troops out of Iraq within 16 months and he wants to give more help to Afghanistan.

British troops will be watching closely to see what he does. They've seen time and time again how the movements of British armed forces mirror what goes on in America.

FUEL

America's new president says he wants his country to end its "addiction" to oil. For example, he's called for one million fuel efficient cars on America's roads in the next seven years. America is the world's biggest polluter, so green campaigners say they're encouraged to hear this kind of thing from the new president.

SYMBOLISM

For the first time ever, the most important person in the world is black. Or at least of mixed racial origin. His mother is white and his father grew up herding goats in an African village.

When you consider it's only a few decades since black school children were officially banned from white schools in the US, it shows how much both America and the world have changed.