WILL OBAMA ACHIEVE ANY OF HIS CHANGES IN THE NEXT FOUR YEARS?

The change Barack Obama chooses to create has already begun with his historic and well-executed campaign and his monumental election to the presidency. The nation, the entire world, celebrated wildly on November 4th after eight nightmarish years of corporate fraud, torture and violent occupations, knowing that a constitutional law expert of intelligence, discipline and maturity will soon truly be in charge. It's a whole new confident and joyful mindset, always a great foundation for transformation.

The national mindset is important. President-elect Obama has repeatedly told all of us that any changes that are accomplished come from us. Obama did not run alone, did not canvas alone and he wasn't elected alone. Obama didn't pass his landmark ethics law in the Senate by himself, nor will he create more change alone.

It's clear that we the people are energized and ready to be included in our national destiny again, especially all the amazing young voters who provided so much conviction and so many votes. We're not only relieved at Obama's election - we're excited and ready to stay involved with what we consider our government now. We have personal investment in a government that will stop hurting us and start building us up to our potential. That's not just change; that's transformation.

Along with our support, Barack Obama knows people, knows how to bring them together, plans carefully and thinks about those plans a lot, understands Congress and the Constitution, and has the majority party's grateful support. A lot of the minority party like him too, since they helped vote him in.

Obama learned about gathering people together early in his community organizing experience, which allowed him to soundly overshadow the paltry skills and directly counter the disparaging comments of Sarah Palin and her running mate. Everyone can see that Barack Obama is accessible, deeply interested in and curious about others, and very capable in forming functional and goal-oriented relationships with others. He wasn't offered dinner and meaningful family time in Chicago just because he was a skinny organizer; people came to care about him and his work because he cared about them and knew how to listen to them and their dreams. Dreams, hopes are what it's all about.

Gathering working groups that will take responsibility and welcome diverse opinions has always been a necessary precursor for change. President-elect Obama has already formed these groups in Congress and Washington, and in his deft use of the Internet during his campaign. He has said that he will proceed with "deliberate haste", with emphasis on both aspects, to form the best Cabinet that has been seen in some time, one that will include skillful Republicans.

Obama has shown his ability to see the big picture and to plan for far down the road, as he did with his presidential campaign. Unlike George Bush, he will not be unable to assess and make educated estimates about where the nation is headed, or where emergency help is needed, or what result certain foreign policy actions might have globally. Unlike John McCain, Obama will not turn a deaf ear to national trends, opinions, feelings and problems. Unlike both Bush and McCain, Obama has a plan that will guide him as he integrates all these variables into it, and will be able to modify the plan when there is clear reason to do so. That's a huge change right there.

Sen. Obama actually started his presidential campaign before he ran for the Senate, and had a precise four-year plan for the White House that he methodically and carefully followed with the help of staff, advisors, friends and family. It's been a meteoric and strategic rise that lends great hope for more national rising in the next four years of Obama's first term.

His rise also shows that Obama will not govern on his own idiosyncratic "gut", as did the anti-intellectual and unlawful George Bush, who led the nation into the disastrous trough in which we now find ourselves. We will become a nation of laws, not men, again, and a nation known for its reason and vision.

All of these qualities,