Change is Now

The American people overwhelmingly voted for change. And they got it in the form of the nation's first African-American president, Barack Obama. With the economy in shambles, the mortgage crisis still underway, the war in Iraq, and volatile gas prices, he's got his work cut out for him.

It is historic and unprecedented that he not just won but won in a big way. Yes, he is African-American; but since we only make up 15% if the population, he needed more than our vote to win. He won over whites, Hispanics, old and young, Red Staters and Blue Staters. The excitement in the air is palpable and for many of us too young to remember JFK and MLK, this is the first time we have felt this.

Obama can give us change at the highest levels. He can work on the economic crisis. He can try to bring our boys back home. He can help us start seriously considering and investing in alternate forms of energy to lessen our dependence on foreign oil ... but he can't do it all.

We have to meet him half-way and allow the spirit of change to help us make some necessary changes. This is the part that no one wants to hear. Obama can work on the economic crisis, but we have to work on curbing our spending, cutting our debt and saving some of our hard earned cash.

Obama can try to fix No Child Left Behind and he can work on putting more teachers in the classroom, but we have to make sure that our children are learning and doing their homework. We have to make sure that they are going to school and participating in the process.

Hopefully, Obama can make good on his promises and make real change. Yet, he cannot do it alone. From a political perspective, he'll need the House and the Senate to make that happen. And, in a real and practical way for true and lasting change to take place, it's going to take all of us. Each and everyone.