All this 'historic moment' stuff is really irrelevant to me & its starting to sound a bit trite, IMO. Who cares that Obama is black? Just that he's intelligent & looks likely to do a reasonable job.
It could have just as easily been: the 1st woman pres. Or the first asian/hispanic/anyone from a minority. It was mostly timing. Let's face it: if Bill Clinton had been running now, following GWB, he would have won in a landslide. Almost any decent Dem candidate would have, esp w/the Republicans bringing Palin on board.