Historical Celebration...Then What?

Today, we have a new President: the first black president of the United States of America: Mr. Barrack Obama. What a great day in our history. The tears are flowing, the cheers are rising, the elation is sky high. We must celebrate that we as the people have risen beyond the negative and low expectations of the civil rights noise makers and the political talking-heads and chosen the candidate of our choice.
I am still amazed at how many people keep saying that they never believed this could happen in America in our life time. Why not? Are we so tied to the historical sins that we cannot look forward? Can we chant Dr. Martin Luther King's words on one hand while pushing the dream away with the other hand? Should we choose to live in racial isolation while claiming racial equality? Should we let mental and social mediocrity reign in the face of definite progress and racial integration?
Today is clearly a day of celebration. The voices of the self-proclaimed civil rights opportunists have been silenced by the actions of the once silent majority who now proclaim loudly with their feet and hands that 'yes, we can' elect an American to the highest office in the land without regard to the color of their skin. Michelle Obama was wrong; Jessie Jackson was wrong; Al Sherpton was wrong; Geraldine Farraro was wrong; Hillary Clinton was wrong; Bill Clinton was also wrong; all the super delegates who pledged their support to Hillary Clinton before the people even voted in the primaries were wrong. America is a country that can rise to an occasion in spite of those who still see the word through 'colored' glasses.
President elect Obama is the now the one chosen to lead this country. Whether we agree with his politics or not, he is now our president. We need to give him the chance to lead and show if he really can accomplish what he laid out over the last two years. He will soon find out, if he does not already know, that the President cannot do all the things that get people excited in political speeches. The President needs the other branches of government to accomplish the promises of a campaign that did not require judicial or congressional scruitiny and constitutional conformity. The chants of an enamored crowd or popularity polls does not necessarily make good public policy or fiscal sustainability. As the president, we must give him his full four years to at least try.
There is not enough money in the public troughs to feed every hand that is lining up for a handout. There is not enough wealth in the "wealthy ranks" to pay all the bills that his promises will generate. There is not enough money of wall street to pay all the bad loans made on Main Street and there is not enough people on Main Street who will be able to keep the homes that they could not afford ten years ago when the bail out is going to those who cause the problems in the first place.
So our new President will have to do what every good leader does when the honeymoon wears off: he will have to come to reality of what he can and cannot do alone and who he needs to get on his side to be successful. He will also learn that people who are not in business for themselves need to work to earn a living in jobs that are provided by those who own businesses and invest in the markets. I am sure that he already knows that success is not illegal and that remember that poverty is only glamorous during political campaigns.
When the earned celebrations are over, the streets are cleared and the inaugural staff is settled in, life in America goes on and we expect results and honesty from both Republican and Democratic Presidents, at home and abroad, socially and economically, whether they be black, white, male or female.
Congratulations President-elect Obama! Now, let's get something done that will out last your term in office. Maybe you can begin by getting the Congress to actually address critical issues in substantive and efffective ways between their book-signing tours and European trips.