Barack Obama will be our next president. One year ago, I didn't think it was possible. Six months ago I still didn't find the idea tenable. But, ladies and gentleman, the impossible has happened: a (half) black man will lead this country.

Like so many of my compatriots, I find myself in a state of mild euphoria. Obama has already changed our generation, has ignited passions and cast aside cynicism. He has motivated more than two-thirds of us to vote (from the point of view of a political scientist, this is particularly astonishing). He has made the impossible possible, and so anything is possible. Reforming health care? Saving Social Security? Ending the war in Iraq? Restoring our image abroad? Done, done, done, and done.

At least, I think. Or, perhaps more accurately, I hope. Because there is a hitch: Obama has raised our expectations exponentially and I'm a little afraid of what this will mean when he arrives in Washington. A Democratic House and Senate will no doubt be a significant aid, but our system is designed to make change difficult. Resources are limited. So is time. We are amidst a major financial crisis. It is highly likely that he will not be able to deliver all that he has promised us. My sincere hope is that people won't be disappointed by this reality; that, as a country we won't become even more jaded and cynical than we already are (or were).

However, my greatest hope is that we can recognize that one man working alone cannot solve the problems we face. (What can I say? I'm an idealist.) I hope that we will answer his call to a renewed sense of civic duty and pride. I hope that we can, as the President-elect so eloquently stated "[remake] this nation the only way it's been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand."

So, hail to the new chief. I wish him the greatest luck. He will need it.