A head to head competition! This is the way everybody thought this election would have been. Instead, Barack Obama was re-elected President of the United States just as some polling stations had closed.

A bunch of people started celebrating all over New York City, from Times Square to the Rockefeller Center. And official greetings started to reach the President as well, including those from Giorgio Napolitano, President of the Italian Republic, who sent him a message as the vote validated his victory. 



“It is a pleasure to offer you warmest congratulations and best wishes both from me and all of Italy for your Presidential re-election and the beginning of your second term.” In this way, President Napolitano began his message to Barack Obama, expressing all his esteem to the campaign itself: “Let me also express admiration for the strong sense of responsibility with which the two candidates have immediately followed the announcement of the result, expressions of mutual recognition and shared commitment to work for the unity of the nation.”



In his message, Napolitano also underscored the importance of the cooperation between Italy and the United States: “The American nation has entrusted you with a further mandate for the solution of its problems and, above all, to overcome a severe global economic crisis such as the one we are living together. Both the American and the Italian nations need the strongest friendship between our two countries and the closest cooperation between the United States and Europe so that it can advance the cause of world peace, democracy, and human rights. The world needs a strong contribution from America to construct a new balance and sustainable development in security and justice where no people and no country should be excluded.”


Finally, President Napolitano concluded his message with personal greetings: “In this spirit, also accept my wishes of serenity and well-being for you and your wife.”