President-elect Barack Obama prepares to deliver his victory speech at his election-night party at Grant Park in Chicago.

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AP / David Guttenfelder

FOXBORO –– When he was young, growing up near San Jose, Calif., Deltha O’Neal would hear other kids talk of their desire to become president of the United States. And O’Neal would basically roll his eyes.

“I was like, ‘Yeah, right,’ ” the Patriots cornerback said yesterday.

But on Tuesday night, that changed. Barack Obama was elected the nation’s 44th president, and those kids O’Neal didn’t believe, as well as his own young daughters, Talia, 6, and Mya, 2, really can dream that dream.

“The sky is the limit. I can tell my kids now, ‘Shoot for the sky. Don’t put limits on yourself and don’t let others put limits on you,’ ” O’Neal said.

In the New England locker room yesterday, O’Neal and Ellis Hobbs spoke of their happiness about Obama’s victory, though they weren’t the only ones who felt that way.

O’Neal

“I came in (to Gillette Stadium) yelling, I know other guys came in yelling; I talked to Randy (Moss) about it,” O’Neal said with a smile.

The Pats’ cornerbacks both said they were taken by Obama’s message, and not just because he (like them) is African-American. The President-elect won on a promise of change and a message of hope. About the only thing O’Neal didn’t find appealing is Obama’s plan to increase taxes for those who make more than $250,000, which basically means every NFL player will pay more.

But, above all, it was Obama’s plans that got the players’ attention.

“Other than what he’s bringing to the table as far as change, it seems like he’s a really good person,” O’Neal said, noting that Obama reached not just black and minority voters, but whites, as well.

Hobbs

As Obama has acknowledged, the road ahead of him is difficult.

“The past eight years have been a roller coaster. It’s going to be a handful for him,” O’Neal said. “But I think he can get it done. As a country, we have to be behind him. The stock market is down, there are foreclosures every day; it can’t get much worse. To me, Obama seems like the right fit for the job.”

Hobbs, whose father, also named Ellis, was a career Army man, promised his children that they would never have to go that route. Though he retired as an E-9 (sergeant major), the elder Hobbs felt the Army wasn’t the place for a black man.

Though Hobbs recognizes that he hasn’t had to go through the experiences of his father and other older black Americans, he understands the importance of Obama’s win.

“Hearing from older people everything they had to go through, that’s why this is important. It’s not just because Obama is black, but because he’s signifying change. We [Americans] still have and had the opportunity to make significant changes,” Hobbs said. “It means that it’s possible; nothing is impossible.”

O’Neal wished he had had the chance to be in Chicago’s Grant Park late Tuesday night when Obama gave his victory speech, and he would like to cross paths with him someday.

“If I get a chance to meet him, I’m going to praise him,” O’Neal said. “Like I’m doing now: Good job.”

smanza@projo.com