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The election of Barack Obama has healed something that has its roots in the worst moments of US history, and bears the hallmarks of a country living up to its own ideals, writes Colm Tóibín

IN THE WEEKS before the US election many people who went out to canvass for Barack Obama began to fear the worst. The campaign was superbly organised, but they were coming across areas of prejudice and misinformation that were proving difficult to argue against. Each house that had been canvassed earlier in the campaign was put on a score sheet, with a scale of one to five. One meant a definite McCain vote, five a definite vote for Obama. In the final weeks, only households scoring two, three or four were visited. The problems and difficulties that each household had were noted down.