Barack Obama’s election on Tuesday set off international celebrations and ignited a fervor for the United States that has been unseen since the days immediately following the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.

To some observers, the international reaction has elevated America’s president-elect to an unparalleled post: president of the world.

A resident of Obama, Japan holds Obama fish burgers to celebrate Barack Obama's victory in the U.S. presidential election. Obama is being embraced worldwide as a symbol of a new beginning for relations with the U.S. (AP photo)

In Kenya, where Obama’s father was born, a national holiday was declared on Thursday. In Indonesia, children danced at the school Obama attended when he was a young boy, embracing him as much for what he represents abroad as for the policies he advocates at home.

Click here to see photos of celebrations around the world.

“People from all over Africa, especially in Kenya, where this is a holiday, are feeling that the most powerful person in the world does not have to be a white guy. That’s a huge breakthrough for the United States and for humanity,” said Walter Russell Mead, the Henry A. Kissinger senior fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations.

“This is the fall of the Berlin Wall times ten,” Rama Yade, France’s junior minister for human rights, told French radio. “On this morning, we all want to be American, so we can take a bite of this dream unfolding before our eyes.”

America’s popularity abroad waned dramatically during the Bush administration, and some voters expressed hopes that in electing Obama, they could restore the country’s image. The wave of good feelings since Tuesday night suggests that even before taking office, Obama has made substantial inroads.

“This may be the beginning of a new world. It marks the end of old elites and opens the door for new approaches worldwide,” an Israeli man in his mid-50s said in Tel Aviv.

Foreign observers, who paid rapt attention during the long election season, are taking a personal stake in the outcome of a vote a world away. Expectations are high for the 47-year-old Obama, who will take over on January 20 amid a financial collapse and who will preside over two wars on his first day in office.

“The standing of everybody in the world is going to be affected by what President Obama does or doesn’t do,” said Mead, noting that all eyes will be looking to the new president for a way out of the global financial crisis.

In the Muslim world, the response has been mixed. A journalist with a pan-Arab news channel told FOX News that on election night, workers were going around the newsroom congratulating each other, as if Obama were their president-elect.

Iraqis have expressed skepticism that any rapid changes will come as a result of the election, but many see their fates ineluctably tied to Obama’s foreign policy. “By God, the new American President Obama has promised to pull the troops out. This is in the best interest of the Iraqi people,” said one Baghdadi.

Arab heads of state have been more circumspect, waiting to see whether Obama’s Mideast policy will depart significantly from that of the Bush administration, and some newspapers in the Arab world have openly announced their distrust of the president-elect.

“There is no significant difference between Obama and McCain. They disagree only on the means to achieve America’s chief goal, which is to rule for another hundred years,” said an editorial in the Saudi daily Al-Watan, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute, which monitors the Arab press.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad congratulated Obama Thursday for his win — the first time an Iranian leader has welcomed an incoming president since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. And some Iranians, speaking to FOX News, said they were excited by the prospect of the coming administration.

“I want to congratulate you on Barack Obama’s victory that really turned a new chapter in the world’s history — that an African-American man, decent and intelligent, became president of the world,” one Iranian said.

“This was done in America. Your nation has the credit for it.”

Not all observers expect this world embrace to be long-lasting. “I think overseas, as at home, opinion over the longer term will depend on what he actually does,” said John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Obama was issued an early challenge Wednesday, as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the deployment of short-range missiles near his country’s border with Poland.

“Those who have issues with us are certainly not giving him a honeymoon,” Bolton said of Russia’s action, which may have been intended to send a cold word of welcome to Obama and to test his resolve.

Russian citizens, too, have been wary in their evaluation of the next president.

“I don’t think he can really become the world political leader,” said Tatyana Solomonova, a real estate agent in Moscow. “The fact that he’s black can be an obstacle — there’s still a lot of racism in the world, in Europe and Russia too. I think he can take a leading role in the Western hemisphere, but not in this part of the world.”

In Moscow Thursday, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has a history of controversial remarks, was asked by a reporter about the prospect for U.S.-Russian relations after Berlusconi met with Medvedev.

Berlusconi responded by saying that the relative youth of Medvedev, 43, and Obama should make it easier for Moscow and Washington to work together.

Then he said, smiling: “I told the president that [Obama] has everything needed in order to reach deals with him: he’s young, handsome and even tanned.”

Italian news agencies said Berlusconi later defended his remark, calling the statement “a great compliment.”

“Why are they taking it as something negative? … If they have the vice of not having a sense of humor, worse for them,” the ANSA news agency quoted him as saying.

But Italy’s only black lawmaker, Jean-Leonard Touadi, called the comment embarrassing.

“In the United States, a joke like that wouldn’t just be politically incorrect, but a great offense to this amazing example of integration, which it seems the Italian premier should take as an example,” Touadi said.

For good or ill, all eyes are now on Obama.

“Not everybody is going to get what they want, but this is a moment of hope,” said Mead, who added that Obama was sure to fall short of some expectations.

“If you look at Jesus Christ, he walked on water and fed the 5,000 and he ended up getting crucified, so I think it’s not unlikely that President-elect Obama is gonna disappoint some people also.”

FOX News’ Dasha Bond, Courtney Kealy, Reena Ninan and Amy Kellogg contributed to this report

Strategists and experts say it’s back to Washington for the Arizona Senator.

John McCain won’t be standing before the American people on January 20 to be sworn in as the next president. Instead, the longtime Arizona senator will be returning to Congress, where it’s expected he’ll continue to reach across the Senate aisle and remain a powerful voice for the Republican Party.

Arizona senator won't be the next President but one strategist says 'he's still got many years of service ahead of him.'

“John is someone who has always served his country and he has his entire adult life, and I anticipate that after some time off, well deserved, and some time with his family, well deserved, he’ll be back in Washington, rolling up his sleeves and getting back to work,” John Weaver, McCain’s former top campaign strategist, told FOXNews.com.

“This is his last run, obviously, for national political office, but he’s still got many years of service ahead of him,” Weaver said.

Weaver said he thinks McCain will be a positive voice for Republicans who will find themselves in the minority in both the House and Senate when Congress convenes in January.

“John McCain will be John McCain. I think he’ll continue to be a maverick in the Senate. He’ll continue to be a voice of leadership and a voice of opposition to the coming administration. And his voice will carry a great deal of weight for both the party and the country,” said Michael Steele, former lieutenant governor of Maryland and chairman of GOPAC, a conservative political organization.

McCain has two more years remaining in his fourth term in the Senate, and there’s no reason to suspect he won’t run again — and win — in 2010.

“He’s won all of his elections by pretty good margins, even when he had some reasonable competition,” said University of Arizona political science professor Barbara Norrander. “He’s been able to win his elections handily, and most of the polls show him to be pretty popular — and not just with Republicans. With Independents and even some Democrats as well.”

McCain’s office confirmed that he’ll be back in Washington to finish out his term, but didn’t have any other information on the senator’s plans.

He will be 74 years old on Election Day, 2010.

The Republican candidate conceded defeat and congratulated President-elect Barack Obama on Tuesday night after a grueling and expensive battle for the presidency.

In exit polls, many Americans said McCain’s age was a bigger factor than Obama’s race when it came to choosing the next president.

“This is an historic election, and I recognize the special significance it has for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight,” McCain told supporters.

“Its natural tonight to feel some disappointment, but tomorrow we must move beyond it and work together to get our country moving again,” he said.

LOS ANGELES — Thousands took to the streets of Los Angeles and San Francisco on Wednesday evening to protest California’s passage of Proposition 8, a ban on gay marriage.

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Demonstrators marched through West Hollywood, Hollywood and Santa Monica where several protesters stopped at busy intersections, blocking traffic and prompting police intervention.

Nov. 5: Protesters march on the Sunset Strip during a

An additional group of about 500 protesters gathered near CNN’s Los Angeles bureau, where they were seen banging on the doors and walls, causing the Los Angeles Police Department to declare a tactical alert — requiring all available officers to respond to the protest — some of whom were brought in from other stations.

Television cameras showed one protester jumping on top of a police car at the intersection of Hollywood and Highland. He was quickly wrestled to the ground by police and handcuffed.

Several others were arrested when a group of people broke away from the larger demonstration that began in West Hollywood earlier in the evening.

Click for additional video coverage at MyFoxLA.com

Some of them were detained, but “the overall indication is that the demonstrators and marchers are peaceful,” Lee said.

In San Francisco, hundreds gathered on the steps of City Hall to protest approval of the ban.

Protesters held candles and carried signs that read “We all Deserve the Freedom to Marry” as part of the event, which was sponsored by groups opposed to Proposition 8.

Click for more on the protests in San Francisco

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom expressed frustration in the ban, but said he is hopeful it will be overturned in court.

The loss was a political defeat for Newsom, who’s been one of the most prominent advocates of same-sex marriage. However, he believed the effect on his gubernatorial aspirations is “trivial” and “irrelevant.”

City attorneys of Los Angeles and San Francisco, along with the American Civil Liberties Union, filed requests for the state Supreme Court to overturn the gay marriage ban on Wednesday.

Meg Waters, part of the Yes on 8 campaign team, told City News Service, “gay and lesbian couples have exactly the same protections under the law with civil unions.”

“Marriage has been defined as a man and woman since time began,” Waters said. “The people of California have voted twice, so I think the best thing to do is for everybody involved to figure out a way to move forward.”

Waters said she understands “how gays and lesbians may feel concerned about this.”

“If they stop and look at the situation, they have the exact same legal protections and rights under the law today they had yesterday,” Waters said.

“You can’t change the definition of something that existed forever because you don’t like it.”

The Yes on 8 campaign has “a great deal of compassion for gay and lesbian couples and support completely their right to live as they choose, whether it’s in a committed relationship and a domestic partnership or however they choose,” Waters said.

“We don’t believe that Proposition 8 hinders that at all,” Waters said. “We’re hoping very much to rebuild bridges to that community at some point.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.