History was made November 4, 2008 11:00pm EST

I know that in my last post I mentioned the reason as to why I had my doubts on whether Obama could win the election. There's no need to re-hash what I said but I'll be the first to admit I was wrong (thankfully so). My statements were never based on his abilities or his potential or even because of his opponent. I voted for the man as I said that I would vote for him when he announced his candidacy 21 long months ago. In reality who can TRULY say they are qualified to be President. The job is more or a crapshoot than anything else. Maybe I under-estimated the power of a diverse voting bloc who (before I made my statements about Obama's campaign) got nailed by a faltering economy. I'll leave the economics to those in the know to explain the intricate details, but I believe had the economy not tanked, the results of the election may have taken a different route.

I still have my worries concerning Obama and his incoming transitional team. I have my worries about the time to come that has nothing to do with Obama and his transitional team. As a pessimist (As Harper would categorize me) or as I prefer to list myself as: A Realist, hate to be a buzz-killer but the time for the "kumbaya" and "rah rah" of the people is done. We all need to roll up our sleeves and get to work at fixing the mess that's being left in all our feet. As JFK once said "Don't Ask What Your Country Can Do For You, Ask What You Can Do For Your Country". Obama is our leader but he can't do it all on his own. He needs our help in order to get this country on the right path. Change without hard work and progress is nothing. All it is, is just Change for the sake of Change. As with the power that we have with our vote, we as a people of the great country have the power to get the machine rolling again.

In the end I'm a Historian and not a Political Scientist and we have witnessed history. That fact is not lost on me. I just hope Obama (for our sakes and his) is more of a FDR, helping to lead the country out of a crisis instead of being a Jimmy Carter who (fairly or not) took the country from bad to worse. Only time, hard work, sweat and tears will tell.

But then again, I'm just a bouncer at The Bleecker Street Bar so what do I really know.

FHJ