It was a dream come true and in US President George W Bush's words, the people have chosen a President whose journey represents a triumph of the American story.

However there are revelations today that US President-elect Barack Obama's fairytale yesterday unfolded in a No-Fly Zone.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, there aren't any aerial images of the Grant Park in Illinois where Obama made his victory speech last night as downtown Chicago was a No-Fly Zone all night.

The only things that were in the air were Secret Service choppers.

They loitered fretfully overhead as the 75,000 people gathered to hear Obama speak. The Secret Service choppers' spotlights combed and recombed the park as, around at the media entrance, news crews wearily dismantled their cameras and laid the pieces out in rows on the ground so they could be sniffed by German Shepherds.

One of the first concerns about this new President is the uncomfortable question of his immediate protection. Obama came before his supporters for the first time as President-elect last night to deliver his victory speech, sandwiched between two sheets of bulletproof glass. You wouldn't have seen these shields on TV - they were left and right of the camera's field of vision, to the left and right of Barack Obama like giant transparent bookends, protecting him from the public throng on either side.

Today 47 year old Obama is starting off his first day as US President-elect. He is now the leader of the world's most powerful nation.

The BBC reports: