WASHINGTON--Republican Donald Trump put aside the celebrations and focused on his 73-day transition to the White House on Wednesday as rival Hillary Clinton promised to bury the bitterness of their long presidential race and work to unify a divided country.
After Trump's stunning upset of the heavily favoured Clinton, Democratic President Barack Obama and leading figures in the Republican Party who had struggled to make peace with Trump all vowed to move past the ugliness of an angry campaign to seek common ground.
"Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead," Clinton, the Democratic nominee, said in a concession speech in New York, joined by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and daughter Chelsea.
With a row of American flags in the background, she told supporters her loss was painful "and it will be for a long time," and that she had offered to work with Trump as he prepares to begin his four-year term on Jan. 20.
A wealthy real estate developer and former reality TV host, Trump rode a wave of anger toward Washington insiders to win Tuesday's election against Clinton, whose gold-plated establishment resume included stints as a first lady, U.S. senator and Obama's secretary of state. Trump's victory marked a crushing end to Clinton's second quest to be the first woman elected president. She also failed in a White House bid in 2008.
Obama, who campaigned hard against Trump, invited him to the White House for a meeting on Thursday after a brutal night for the Democratic Party, which also fell short of recapturing majorities in both chambers of Congress.
"We are now all rooting for his success in uniting and leading the country," Obama said at the White House, adding that he and his staff would work with Trump to ensure a successful transition. "We are not Democrats first, we are not Republicans first, we are Americans first."
Trump and his senior aides were meeting at Trump Tower in New York on Wednesday to begin the transition. "They are hunkered down in meetings, plotting the next steps, the transition, the first 100 days, key staff positions," said a source close to Trump's campaign.
Trump will enjoy Republican majorities in both chambers of the U.S. Congress that could help him implement his legislative agenda and appoint a Supreme Court justice to fill the vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. "Now, Donald Trump will lead a unified Republican government and we will work hand-in-hand on a positive agenda to tackle this country's big challenges," House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, who had a strained relationship with Trump, told reporters, saying Trump had earned a mandate in the election.
In an Oct. 25 Reuters interview, Trump said his top priorities when he took office would be building stronger borders, repealing Obama's national healthcare plan, aiding military veterans and working to create more jobs. In his victory speech early on Wednesday, he also promised to embark on a project to rebuild American infrastructure and to double U.S. economic growth.
Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday that repealing the healhcare plan known as Obamacare would be a "pretty high item" on the agenda. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement that she spoke to Trump about passing a "robust" jobs bill.
