"The U.S. presidential election has great significance," said Sergei Rogov, director of the U.S. and Canada Institute. "I would qualify its results as the end of an era ...of several decades when the U.S. became a superpower and attempted to emerge as the only superpower in a unipolar world after the end of the Cold War."
Rogov said the United States' strategy collapsed following the onset of the credit crunch that has spread to the rest of the world, and over its dominance in global affairs.
"Attempts to pursue its role of the only superpower have led to America being stuck in Afghanistan and Iraq. The self-imposed role as the world's policeman has exhausted the American army, which is now unable to wage a third war against Iran or North Korea," Rogov said.
The analyst said the U.S. administration had spent over $2 trillion propping up the country's financial system, but had failed to stop the United States slipping into a recession. "There is now no talk about whether recession is imminent, but whether it will be mild and short-term or more serious," Rogov said.
He suggested Obama would have to experiment to overcome the crisis like Franklin Roosevelt did when he took office during the Great Depression in the 1930s and eventually emerged with the New Deal.
If Obama - who will become the first black U.S. president following his victory over Republican candidate John McCain on the back of wide public discontent with the current policies of the Republican leadership - succeeds in stabilizing the situation, his presidency will usher in the beginning of a new long-term U.S. strategy, the analyst said.
"This concerns taxes and state spending, as well as foreign policy. He is likely to preside over major changes to domestic and foreign policies," Rogov said.
In his election program, Obama, 47, pledged to increase taxes for the rich and corporations, listen more to the country's traditional European allies, and stick to diplomatic options in dealing with Iran and other "rogue" states.
Obama also vowed to end the Iraq war, increase the number of troops in Afghanistan and step up peace efforts in the Middle East.
Obama also opposed McCain's call for Russia to be ousted from the Group of Eight rich nations after its war with Georgia in August. But he condemned Russia's use of force against the Caucasus state, which had tried to regain control over breakaway South Ossetia.
