1. Four-Day Workweeks (and Three-Day Weekends!)

The rising costs of fuel are driving some employers to allow workers to make their four-day workweek fantasy a reality. While not all professions provide all employees the opportunity to perform all their tasks in a fewer days, Challenger, Gray & Christmas reports, “Twenty-three percent of companies are now offering a condensed workweek, typically consisting of four 10-hour days.”

Not everyone has to put in a full, 40-hour week to be effective. “With the latest productivity-enhancing tools, some workers are able to get their work done in a four-day, 32-hour week,” says John Challenger, CEO of the outplacement firm.

2. Shape Up or Pay Up

Health-care insurance continues to take a big bite of everyone’s bottom line. Expect employers to take a more personal interest in your well-being through mandatory corporate wellness programs. Challenger, Gray & Christmas predict, “Office equipment such as Steelcase’s WalkStations, which allow workers to walk on treadmills while at their computers, will catch on nationwide.” You can also look forward to your employer taking an interest in unhealthy behaviors you may engage in outside the office.

“More companies will follow the lead of one Indiana company, which announced that workers who allow health risks such as tobacco use, obesity or high cholesterol to go unchecked will pay more for their company health insurance beginning in 2009,” says Challenger.

3. Why Your Degree May Be Company-Sponsored

College, or even graduate school, doesn’t necessarily leave you prepared for the particular practices of a certain company. So that workers can hit the ground running, work more efficiently, and advance more quickly, Challenger, Gray & Christmas believe that large corporations will begin to create their own degree programs.

“Companies will initiate entire programs with precise coursework centered around their company culture and goals, eliminating the need for extensive on-the-job training, and saving both the company and the workers thousands of dollars,” Challenger says.

4. Recruitment Goes Global

If you ever dreamed of working in another country, the possibility is drawing ever closer. Challenger explains, “The expansion of the global economy will likely lead to a global talent pool where companies will aggressively pursue the best available workers, regardless of where they reside.” The firm’s research reveals that corporations in Europe and Asia have already increased their efforts to recruit foreign talent — yet another reason to keep your passport current!

5. Kiss Your Cube Goodbye

Are you tired of the solitude of your cubicle? If so, John Challenger’s got some good news for you. “In order to maximize employee interaction and teamwork, many companies will eliminate the isolating cube and redesign their workspace to feature common areas, conference rooms, and tables, as opposed to individual desks.” Look for greater access to wireless so that you can work in different locations with your laptop — and increased opportunities for telecommuting.

6. HQ’s Get 86′d

The image of a hulking headquarters building will fade as fast as old newspapers in the years to come. Challenger, Gray & Christmas are envisioning the death of “Death Star”-like behemoths at which all employees must work. Instead, says Challenger, “In an effort to cut real-estate costs, become more eco-friendly and attract the growing number of works who want increased work-life balance, more and more companies will adopt a ‘work wherever you want, whenever you want’ policy.”

If professionals require a traditional office, they will “work in leased office space close to their homes.” Some companies are already embracing this forward-thinking notion, including AT&T, Best Buy, and Sun Microsystems, the latter of which estimates that it saved $400 million in real-estate costs over a six-year period, according to Challenger’s research.

7. Athletes Aren’t the Only Free Agents

Baseball and basketball players, among others, aren’t the only talented people who can be free agents. Expect more white-collar workers to follow their example. “The move to hiring temporary and contract employees, freelancers and consultants is beneficial for both companies and workers,” Challenger says.

Companies, he believes, will save money and can add support on an as-needed basis while free agents enjoy flexibility in terms of when they work and types of projects they accept while also increasing their earning potential. And this prediction is already taking root, as Challenger, Gray & Christmas reveal that more than one-third of the U.S. workforce will be comprised of free agents by the year 2012 (according to market research firm EPIC-MRA).

Here are five suggestions from career coach Deborah Brown-Volkman:

Keep thinking positive.

It sounds deceptively simple, but try embracing the power of positive thinking when you’re thinking about your career. Says Brown-Volkman, “When you tell yourself something bad will happen to your job, something bad will probably happen. If you tell yourself that you are marketable and confident and that you will always be working, your words can make this true.”

Keep thinking ahead.

If you’re not following trends within your particular industry, you could be caught off guard by a layoff. Is your position or division vulnerable to outsourcing, further automation, or elimination? Brown-Volkman, whose practice is based in New York, says, “If your job is being eliminated or outsourced, you will want to know about it before you are in the room with the human resources person telling you that your job is going away.”

She urges professionals, “Look for trends and then train yourself in growth areas. Having the right skills at the right time ensures that no matter what is happening around you, you will be needed and employable.”

Keep your resume ready.

Having your resume at the ready gives you confidence. You always know that if opportunity casually knocks, you’re prepared to answer. Brown-Volkman reminds her clients, “Even if you are not looking for work, your resume reminds you of the contributions you make on a regular basis, something you can easily forget when you are immersed in the day-to-day. Whether you are looking for a job, or you already have one, an updated resume is essential for your career.”

Keep cultivating your network.

Brown-Volkman, author of “Don’t Blow It: The Right Words for the Right Job,” believes networking should always be a part of your professional life. She states, “If you start to network only when you need something, you will have a lot of catching up to do.” Instead of waiting until the 11th hour, she advises workers to network in some way every day.

“Wherever there are people, there is an opportunity to network.” She also urges workers to network within their own workplaces. If coworkers understand what you do and your value, this could help safeguard your job in dicey times.

Keep your eyes and ears open.

You’re up on the trends. You’re networking. You’ve got a current resume. You’re thinking positive thoughts. Now it’s time to get creative — by creating your own opportunities.

Read up on what your peers are doing and what you aren’t. Consider how you might strike out on your own — or on the side. Brown-Volkman adds, “Rather than thinking, ‘It cannot happen,’ believe that what you want is possible and is within your reach. Then, make it happen.”

In a national survey by The Creative Group, nearly half of advertising and marketing executives responded that current or former colleague tried to make them look bad on the job in the past year. In addition, professionals of all types told Yahoo! HotJobs they had suffered from sabotage on the job. In a recent online poll asking, “Are you aware of a coworker trying to make you look bad or sabotage your work in the last year?” nearly three-quarters said “yes.”

Those numbers are not surprising to Dr. Gary Namie, director of the Workplace Bullying Institute. He says that employee sabotage is one of the most prevalent forms of on-the-job bullying, a phenomenon that itself is far too common.

Many Forms of Sabotage

“Sabotage can happen in any organization, but some forms are special to the industry,” Namie says. “In creative fields, it may take a passive form, such as not contributing to the group effort. In health care, a seasoned professional may withhold vital information, which not only hurts the new employee but also affects patient care.”

Workplace saboteurs come in several types, including:

• Belittlers, who hurl put-downs, demeaning remarks and disparaging comments.
• Credit thieves, who steal your ideas and grab the glory when a project is successful.
• Finger pointers, who pin the blame on others when the project goes wrong.
• Rumor-mongers, stirring up drama by spreading lies and half-truths that destroy reputations.
• Slackers, who shirk responsibility and foist duties onto others.
• Scorched-earth managers, who will undermine or even fire a smart, capable worker when they feel threatened by brains and talent.

A 2007 Zogby International survey had even more bad news about workplace bullying: in 62% of workplace bullying cases, when made aware of bullying, employers worsen the problem or simply do nothing.

Before You Respond

How you handle sabotage or other bullying can affect your career prospects. You don’t want to come across as a pushover, but you shouldn’t overreact either, according to Megan Slabinski, executive director of The Creative Group.

“Not everyone who slights you is doing it on purpose,” Slabinski tells Yahoo! HotJobs. “Before you confront someone, see if you may have played a role in the problem, or if your colleague wasn’t aware of the issue. It’s also wise to ask a mentor for candid feedback.”

Slabinski also recommends looking for patterns before crying foul. “If it’s happened a few times, it’s definitely time to speak up. If someone is purposely trying to make you look bad, you want to let him or her know that you’re aware of the situation, and you’re not going to let it continue.”

Guarding Against Sabotage

If you’re certain you’ve been the target of sabotage, Namie offers several remedies:

• Get allies. Know that the bully will have allies, so you’ll need all the back up you can get.
• Go three levels up, if possible. A bully’s boss may be in on the game, so go above their heads to make your case.
• Don’t get personal. “Instead of saying how you were hurt by what happened, show how sabotage is causing the business to suffer,” Namie says.
• Ask for protection. Again, make your case business-related, not personal, and explain that your productivity can improve if you’re not constantly looking over your shoulder.
• Prepare for your next job. Unfortunately, whistle blowers can be blamed for their own fate. If things go from bad to worse, know that you may have to leave the job you love.

People engage in office politics to reap financial, emotional, and even physical rewards. Those who engage the most vigorously often have significant unmet needs, a specific agenda, a desire for power, and the ability to forego ethics and integrity in order to get what they want.

Understanding the human ritual of politicking is essential for everyone in business. Practicing these eight tips will help you navigate your way through tricky political waters:

1. Play nice. Courtesy, respect, politeness, and office etiquette start and end with you. Show your coworkers kindness, and encourage them to do the same.

2. Fight fair. Sometimes the game of office politics can get downright nasty, and there’s nothing you can do but get in the ring. But before the fur starts to fly, focus on the issue, not the person. Address behaviors, never the individual. Handle confrontations privately, fairly, and without judgment.

3. Keep your cool. Nothing that happens at the office is worth a heart attack. In the big scheme of things, will the issue matter in a week? A month? A year? As you keep things in perspective, you will also be less prone to turning incidents into catastrophes. Strive for equanimity at all times.

4. Forgive and forget. If you’ve been maligned, candidly address the issue at the source. Then shake hands and move on. Bearing grudges or, worse, returning fire will serve only to damage your own reputation.

5. Don’t play favorites. Motivational speaker Earl Nightingale once said, “Treat everyone as though they are the most important person in the world, because to them they are.” Great advice! Remember, no one is better than anyone else.

6. Keep it zipped. While gossip and chatter can be titillating, it can also be cruel. Think of office gossip as spam or junk mail and hit the “delete” button. When people approach you with juicy details about Mr. or Ms. So-and-So, politely put a stop to the conversation and exit. When gossip mongers realize that no one is listening, they’ll quiet down and get back to work.

7. Hire intelligently. If you’re in a hiring capacity, screen potential new hires carefully. Ask candidates how they feel about office politics and how they might react in difficult situations.

8. Acquiesce. Accept the fact that office politics happen in every workplace. If you spend all of your time worrying about water-cooler chatter, you’ll never have time to manage your own projects. Some degree of complacency will keep you sane.

Invest Wisely

You didn’t spend years getting an education only to lose your livelihood to foreign workers. The monthly wages they earn wouldn’t pay your cable bill here in the U.S. That’s why it’s imperative that you carefully research your chosen degree area prior to investing loads of time and money.

It Doesn’t Matter What Color Your Collar Is

Blue collar, white collar — Nearly all industries can be affected by outsourcing. Any company looking to save money is likely to investigate what savings can be had by moving some (or all) of their labor needs to a foreign country.

Is Your Career Choice Vulnerable?

When outsourcing first began, most college students and recent grads weren’t concerned with whether or not their chosen industry would remain based in the U.S. Today, many workers realize they have equally educated and skilled workers competing for the same jobs overseas. To become more competitive, many now choose a career path that is firmly planted on our home turf.

Jobs That Are Here to Stay

Here are nine jobs that are not likely to be shipped oceans away (source: U.S. Department of Labor):

Dental Assistant
It’s tough to clean teeth from across the world. A career as a dental assistant usually begins with an associate’s degree from an accredited college or university.

Pharmacy Technician
People take their health seriously — that’s why a certification as a pharmacy tech is not likely to be outsourced.

Fitness Professional
It’s hard enough to be motivated in-person. Offshore encouragement won’t cut it. A career in fitness can begin with a certificate program.

Teacher Aide
Teachers need live help to care for kids. An anonymous, off-site representative just won’t cut it when it comes to educating our kids.

Auto Repair Technician
Most car troubles can’t be repaired with simple, over-the-phone instructions. An auto tech studies anywhere from 6 months to 2 or more years, and will always have a steady stream of live customers.

Pet Groomer
Along the lines of a dog trainer, pet grooming just must be done in person. This is usually only a certificate program.

Plumber
This career depends fully on local workers — plumbers definitely won’t be phoning in from overseas to unclog your toilet.

Veterinary Assistant
A pet’s health and happiness is of serious importance to most owners, and they won’t be putting it in the hands of foreign workers. You can become a vet assistant by completing a certificate program.

Electrician
This highly technical and hands-on job simply can’t be done any other way, except live and in-person.

Like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President-elect Obama is facing a banking emergency.

Like Abraham Lincoln, Obama is trying to patch up national divisions. To ready himself for the job, Obama said Friday he is reading some writings by Lincoln, “who’s always an extraordinary inspiration.”

And like Richard Nixon, George W. Bush and others, Obama will be commander in chief over U.S. troops in combat.

“With two wars and an economic crisis, this is one step away from what Lincoln or FDR faced,” said Terry Sullivan, associate professor of political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “The question is `Which direction is the nation going to go?’”

While the challenges Obama faces are daunting, they also give him the opportunity to shape history in a big way.

“My 88-year-old mother asks me regularly, `Why would anybody want to be president now?’ said Sullivan, who manages the Presidential Transition Project at Rice University. “My answer is ‘Every one of them wants to be FDR.’ This is their chance. What makes fame in the American presidency is a great challenge and succeeding.” Or, Sullivan added, facing a great challenge and failing.

In fewer than 11 weeks, Obama will inherit not just the economic crisis and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also the ongoing threat of a terrorist attack, a resurgent Russia and nuclear proliferation in hot spots across the globe.

“We are in an almost unprecedented situation, at least in modern times,” White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten said in a C-SPAN interview Friday.

Knowing his opening moves will be widely scrutinized, Obama tried to roll back expectations on election night.

“Our climb will be steep,” he said. “We may not get there in one year or even in one term.”

Yet he remained upbeat as did Roosevelt, who took the reins of a nation in the depths of the Depression. FDR used his optimism to lift up the downtrodden and refresh the American spirit. “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” he said at his inauguration in 1933.

When Roosevelt died in 1945, by then a wartime president making secret plans for an atomic bomb, Harry Truman told reporters, “I felt like the moon, the stars and all the planets had fallen on me.”

In an earlier conflict, when the country was on the brink of civil war, Lincoln took a hands-off approach during a four-month lag between his election and inauguration, staying mum so as not to inflame tensions in the North or the South. After Lincoln was elected, but before he took office, South Carolina announced its decision to secede from the Union. Six more states then seceded and together formed the Confederate States of America.

During the transition, Lincoln maintained what became known as an attitude of “masterly inactivity,” said Harold Holzer, who recently wrote the book “Lincoln President-Elect.” Lincoln didn’t want to do anything that would upset the South, lose him the support of abolitionists in the North or the northern Democrats whom he needed on his side if there was going to be a fight to save the union.

“He thought the best way to deal with it was to be silent,” Holzer said.

Like Lincoln, Obama used his first speech as president-elect to try to mend fences — and he did it by quoting Lincoln’s conciliatory first inaugural address, which was given at a time of such national turmoil that Lincoln traveled to Washington in secret for safety.

“Let’s remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the values of self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity,” Obama said of Lincoln, another lanky lawmaker from Illinois.

“As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends,” Obama said. “Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.”

To reach out to his critics, Lincoln even allowed a reporter from an opposition newspaper, a journalist named Henry Villard, to virtually move into his office in Springfield, Mo., to chronicle the transition.

“That’s the equivalent of Obama picking up the phone and asking Sean Hannity to move in,” Holzer said of the conservative television personality.

Roosevelt, who picked members of the opposing party for Cabinet spots, was as noncommittal as Lincoln as he was about to be sworn into office amid a banking crisis. When Herbert Hoover asked him to sign on to a bank holiday — a temporary closure of banks — three days before inauguration, Roosevelt famously looked up and said, “The drapes look very pretty. I’m sure Eleanor will want to keep these just as they are.”

That made Hoover furious. Soon after taking the oath of office, Roosevelt declared the banking holiday on his own.

In his first fireside chat in March 1933, FDR said: “We had a bad banking situation. Some of our bankers had shown themselves either incompetent or dishonest in their handling of the people’s funds. They had used the money entrusted to them in speculations and unwise loans. … It was the government’s job to straighten out this situation and do it as quickly as possible, and the job is being performed.”

Sound familiar?

“He wanted to do it himself. A clean slate is what Lincoln wanted. It’s what Roosevelt wanted,” Holzer said. “The lessons of history are there. The most successful transformative presidencies were patient between the election and the inauguration.”

Maybe history is repeating itself in that regard. When President Bush announced before the election that he was hosting a global economic summit in Washington on Nov. 15, the Obama camp said the presidential hopeful wouldn’t be there. “He understands there is only one president,” an Obama adviser said.

It’s early in the transition to draw many conclusions, but Obama’s style as a candidate and a legislator was to proceed in a measured, disciplined fashion.

“Obama is an empty vessel into which the American people can be expected to pour their inexhaustible supply of hope — in just the same way that they did in 1932,” said Bruce Kuklick, professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Obama supporters who spontaneously flocked to the White House into the wee hours after his election Tuesday night were anxious for Obama to move forward. Gazing at the illuminated Executive Mansion where Bush slept, one waved signs that said: “Why wait? Evict Bush now.”

For some, jubilation was tempered by recognition of the enormity of the tasks Obama faces.

“It’s not just about him,” said Rachel Reclam, of Olympia, Wash., an international affairs student at George Washington University. “He inspired people, but I’m not expecting miracles. The financial crisis, the war in Iraq, the health care crisis are not going to be over tomorrow.”

“Our country faces economic challenges that will not pause to let a new president settle in,” Bush said in his weekly radio address. “This will also be America’s first wartime presidential transition in four decades. We’re in a struggle against violent extremists determined to attack us — and they would like nothing more than to exploit this period of change to harm the American people.”

In the Democrats’ radio address, President-elect Obama stressed the nation must act swiftly to deal with continuing job losses and a financial meltdown that poses the “greatest economic challenge of our lifetime.” He noted that he was already meeting with economic advisers.

“While we must recognize that we only have one president at a time and that President Bush is the leader of our government, I want to ensure that we hit the ground running on Jan. 20 because we don’t have a moment to lose,” Obama said.

Obama underscored many of the economic talking points from his news conference Friday, the first held since his victory. He said his administration’s focus will be on creating jobs, stabilizing the financial markets while helping homeowners, and growing the middle class and strengthening the economy in the long-term.

“I do not underestimate the enormity of the task that lies ahead,” Obama said. “We’ve taken some major actions to date, and we will need further actions during this transition and subsequent months. Some of those choices will be difficult, but America is a strong and resilient country.”

Bush said the White House and federal agencies have been working for more than a year to make sure the next administration can get off to a quick start.

Intelligence officials have briefed Obama, the Justice Department has approved security clearances for members of his transition staff and, in the coming weeks, administration officials will brief the Obama team on major policy issues, including the Iraq war and the ailing financial markets. The president said he also would keep Obama fully informed on any important decisions he makes between now and when Obama takes over on Jan. 20.

Until then, Bush said he will continue to address the nation’s economic problems and urge Congress to approve free-trade deals with Colombia, Panama and South Korea and will host an international economic summit in Washington on Nov. 15 to address the global financial crisis.

“Earlier this week, more than 120 million Americans went to the polls and voted for a new president and Congress,” Bush said of the election in which Democrats gained seats in both the House and Senate. “No matter how we cast our ballots, all Americans have reason to be proud of our democracy.”

Bush and first lady Laura Bush have invited Obama and his wife, Michelle, to the White House on Monday.

“I join the American people in wishing President-elect Obama every success,” he said. “Laura and I wish the Obama family as much joy and happiness as our family has found in this wonderful house.”

Obama said he and Michelle looked forward to the meeting.

“We can’t afford to wait on moving forward on the key priorities that I identified during the campaign, including clean energy, health care, education and tax relief for middle class families,” Obama said.

Barack Obama said on Saturday that, with the long U.S. presidential election campaign over, now was the time for Americans to put aside political differences and work together to solve the economic crisis.

Obama, a Democrat who won a decisive victory against Republican John McCain in Tuesday’s election to become the first black U.S. president as of January 20, vowed to seek unity.

He noted Republican President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush had invited Obama and his wife Michelle to the White House on Monday and that the Bushes had offered to do all they could to help with Obama’s transition.

“This speaks to a fundamental recognition that here in America we can compete vigorously in elections and challenge each other’s ideas, yet come together in service of a common purpose once the voting is done,” Obama said in the Democratic Party‘s weekly radio address.

“And that is particularly important at a moment when we face the most serious challenges of our lifetime,” said Obama, who regularly attacked the Bush administration during the campaign for causing the now-global economic crisis.

Obama noted that figures released on Friday showed a 10th straight month of job losses, bringing the total number of unemployed Americans to about 10 million.

“Tens of millions of families are struggling to figure out how to pay the bills and stay in their homes,” Obama said. “Their stories are an urgent reminder that we are facing the greatest economic challenge of our lifetime and we must act swiftly to resolve them.”

‘CAN’T AFFORD TO WAIT’

Obama said he and his transition advisory board — a well-regarded group of business leaders, former top Washington officials and economic experts — discussed the challenges at a meeting on Friday and started developing a series of policies to address the crisis.

“While we must recognize that we only have one president at a time and that President Bush is the leader of our government, I want to ensure that we hit the ground running on January 20th because we don’t have a moment to lose,” said Obama.

In his own weekly radio address, Bush congratulated Obama on his historic victory.

“No matter how we cast our ballots, all Americans have reason to be proud of our democracy. Our citizens have chosen a president who represents a triumph of the American story — a testament to hard work, optimism and faith in the enduring promise of our nation,” Bush said.

But he warned of the difficulties awaiting the president-elect.

“Our country faces economic challenges that will not pause to let a new president settle in,” Bush said.

“This will also be America’s first wartime presidential transition in four decades,” Bush added. “We’re in a struggle against violent extremists determined to attack us — and they would like nothing more than to exploit this period of change to harm the American people.”

Bush said his administration would work hard to ensure that that Obama and his team can “hit the ground running.”

Obama vowed to help working class families and to stem the problems before they get worse.

He said the United States “can’t afford to wait” to move forward with his priorities like clean energy, health care reform, improvements to the education system and tax relief for the middle class.

“I do not underestimate the enormity of the task that lies ahead,” said Obama.

“We’ve taken some major actions to date, and we will need further actions during this transition and subsequent months,” he said.

“Some of those choices will be difficult, but America is a strong and resilient country. I know that we will succeed if we put aside partisanship and work together as one nation. And that is what I intend to do.”

At age 106, Ann Nixon Cooper doesn’t usually stay awake past midnight. But on Election Night she had special reason to do so: She was waiting for Barack Obama to mention her name. Cooper, one of the oldest voters for the nation’s first black president, had been tipped off by the Obama campaign that she would be mentioned in his acceptance speech. Toward the end, she got her moment.

“I was waiting for it,” said Cooper. “I had heard that they would be calling my name at least.”

Obama introduced the world to a woman who “was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn’t vote for two reasons — because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.”

“Tonight, I think about all that she’s seen throughout her century in America — the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can’t, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can,” he said.

On Wednesday, Cooper beamed as she greeted reporters at her southwest Atlanta home, wearing a gold cross around her neck that proudly displayed her age.

Cooper first registered to vote on Sept. 1, 1941. Though she was friends with elite black Atlantans like W.E.B. Du Bois, John Hope Franklin and Benjamin E. Mays, because of her status as a black woman in a segregated and sexist society, she didn’t exercise her right to vote for years.

Instead, she deferred to her husband — Dr. Albert B. Cooper, a prominent Atlanta dentist — who “voted for the house.”

Her husband died in 1967. Cooper has outlived three of her four children and lived to see women gain the right to vote and the end of segregation. On Oct. 16, she voted early for the Illinois senator, who called to thank her after reading a news article about her.

Cooper said she believes Obama’s win could finally signal the change she has been waiting for.

“I feel nothing but relief that things have changed as much as they have,” she said. “After a while, we will all be one. That’s what I look forward to.”

Cooper turns 107 in January, just a few weeks before Obama’s inauguration.

Barack Obama‘s election as America’s first black president unleashed a renewed love for the United States after years of dwindling goodwill, and many said Wednesday that U.S. voters had blazed a trail that minorities elsewhere could follow.

People across Africa stayed up all night or woke before dawn to watch U.S. history being made, while the president of Kenya — where Obama’s father was born — declared a public holiday.

In Indonesia, where Obama lived as child, hundreds of students at his former elementary school erupted in cheers when he was declared winner and poured into the courtyard where they hugged each other, danced in the rain and chanted “Obama! Obama!”

“Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place,” South Africa’s first black president, Nelson Mandela, said in a letter of congratulations to Obama.

Many expressed amazement and satisfaction that the United States could overcome centuries of racial strife and elect an African-American as president.

“This is the fall of the Berlin Wall times ten,” Rama Yade, France‘s black junior minister for human rights, told French radio. “America is rebecoming a New World.

“On this morning, we all want to be American so we can take a bite of this dream unfolding before our eyes,” she said.

In Britain, The Sun newspaper borrowed from Neil Armstrong‘s 1969 moon landing in describing Obama’s election as “one giant leap for mankind.”

Yet celebrations were often tempered by sobering concerns that Obama faces global challenges as momentous as the hopes his campaign inspired — wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the nuclear ambitions of Iran, the elusive hunt for peace in the Middle East and a global economy in turmoil.

The huge weight of responsibilities on Obama’s shoulders was also a concern for some. French former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said Obama’s biggest challenge would be managing a punishing agenda of various crises in the United States and the world. “He will need to fight on every front,” he said.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he hoped the incoming administration will take steps to improve badly damaged U.S. ties with Russia. Tensions have been driven to a post-Cold War high by Moscow’s war with U.S. ally Georgia.

“I stress that we have no problem with the American people, no inborn anti-Americanism. And we hope that our partners, the U.S. administration, will make a choice in favor of full-fledged relations with Russia,” Medvedev said.

Europe, where Obama is overwhelmingly popular, is one region that looked eagerly to an Obama administration for a revival in warm relations after the Bush government’s chilly rift with the continent over the Iraq war.

“At a time when we have to confront immense challenges together, your election raises great hopes in France, in Europe and in the rest of the world,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a congratulations letter to Obama.

Poland’s Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski spoke of “a new America with a new credit of trust in the world.”

Skepticism, however, was high in the Muslim world. The Bush administration alienated those in the Middle East by mistreating prisoners at its detention center for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and inmates at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison — human rights violations also condemned worldwide.

Some Iraqis, who have suffered through five years of a war ignited by the United States and its allies, said they would believe positive change when they saw it.

“Obama’s victory will do nothing for the Iraqi issue nor for the Palestinian issue,” said Muneer Jamal, a Baghdad resident. “I think all the promises Obama made during the campaign will remain mere promises.”

In Pakistan, a country vital to the U.S.-led war on the al-Qaida terrorist network and neighbor to Afghanistan, many hoped Obama would bring some respite from rising militant violence that many blame on Bush.

Still, Mohammed Arshad, a 28-year-old schoolteacher in the capital, Islamabad, doubted Obama’s ability to change U.S. foreign policy dramatically.

“It is true that Bush gave America a very bad name. He has become a symbol of hate. But I don’t think the change of face will suddenly make any big difference,” he said.

Obama’s victory was greeted with cheers across Latin America, a region that has shifted sharply to the left during the Bush years. From Mexico to Chile, leaders expressed hope for warmer relations based on mutual respect — a quality many felt has been missing from U.S. foreign policy.

Venezuela and Bolivia, which booted out the U.S. ambassadors after accusing the Bush administration of meddling in their internal politics, said they were ready to reestablish diplomatic relations, and Brazil’s president was among several leaders urging Obama to be more flexible toward Cuba.

On the streets of Rio de Janeiro, people expressed a mixture of joy, disbelief, and hope for the future.

“It’s the beginning of a different era,” police officer Emmanuel Miranda said. “The United States is a country to dream about, and for us black Brazilians, it is even easier to do so now.”

Many around the world found Obama’s international roots — his father was Kenyan, and he lived four years in Indonesia as a child — compelling and attractive.

“What an inspiration. He is the first truly global U.S. president the world has ever had,” said Pracha Kanjananont, a 29-year-old Thai sitting at a Starbuck’s in Bangkok. “He had an Asian childhood, African parentage and has a Middle Eastern name. He is a truly global president.”