President-elect Barack Obama

Photo: Associated Press/Morry Gash

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After announcing her support as a private citizen for Barack Obama's bid for the presidency, Oprah didn't mention her endorsement on her show. But on the day after the 2008 election, Oprah was finally unleashed!

Now, Ali Wentworth, Mark Consuelos and Gayle King have been unleashed too! "The producers would always ask us before, 'What do you want to talk about? What's some hot topic?'" Mark says. "I want to talk about the election."

"We will always determine things as 'pre-Obama' and 'post-Obama,'" Ali says. "I truly believe that."

Gayle says her favorite summation of the night Senator Obama became President-elect Obama comes from Time magazine writer Nancy Gibbs. "As he looked out Tuesday night through the bulletproof glass, in a park named for a Civil War general, he had to see the truth on people's faces. We are the ones we've been waiting for, he liked to say, but people were waiting for him, waiting for someone to finish what a King began."

While people all over the world were celebrating with champagne—or Oprah's usual favorite, tequila shots—Oprah says she wasn't in the mood to party that way. "I was sobered by his calmness when he came out," she says. "Because he didn't walk out triumphant. He was humbled and steady."