What is the significance of Barack Obama becoming the president of the U.S?

His presidency will be significant if he can repair the damage done during Bush years both at domestic and international fronts.I don't attach much importance to his ethnic origin.Obama does not belong to the ghettoised Afro-Americans.I think Mayawati's success is more significant than Obama's.She had to transcend stiffer cliffs- of being a woman and a dalit- to reach the office