On the other end of the political spectrum, the Democratic Party is arguably at its greatest strength in decades. While Democrats also controlled the White House and Hill in 1992, their margins of strength were much stronger this time around. And in terms of past Presidents, Democrats have been greatly outnumbered. So here is where we are- Americans were fed up with the failures of the GOP in power and have called upon the Dems to clean up the mess- Can they possibly live up to their hype and continue to win elections going forward?

Democrats are now the new face of progress and youth in America. We’re the ones who will march for a cause, fight global warming, demand equal rights regardless of race, religion, or sexual orientation, and accept all creeds as our equals in a shifting population curve. We don’t want the government to infringe upon a woman’s right to her own body, want America to stop playing babysitter in the international community, will actually utilize foreign allies including the UN and NATO, and will make political corruption in the digital age a thing of the past. We make less than $200,000 per year, or more than $2 million per year. We are educated, tech savvy, increasingly politically aware, and above all else, motivated, a very bad sign for GOP supporters.

Led by President-elect Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Top Representative Nancy Pelosi, Democrats finally have the unified front in Washington they have been lacking for years. Replacing the old with the new is a new theme here. Barack built his campaign on ‘change’, and therefore decided against tapping Sen. Clinton to be his running mate, even though the political upside was huge. Howard Dean is out as DNC Chairman and Obama friend Tim Kaine is in. He stayed true to his word throughout this election, refusing money from PAC’s or Lobbyist’s. Democrats must work swiftly to implement ‘change we can believe in’ that their strength has been built upon.

The first order is to secure the additional $350B bailout funding for Obama’s economic recovery plan. The outgoing Bush administration was given the $350B without much of a problem and the transparency in its implementation was, well, non-existent. We don’t know where the money went and leaders are having a tough time getting any answers. Now leaders are hesitant to give out another $350B given what happened with Bush and his cronies. While the outgoing has essentially ‘lost’ $350B in taxpayer money, Obama has promised transparency throughout the process and immediate relief to those who need it. In a closed doors meeting yesterday, Obama apparently strong-armed a lot of Senior Democratic leaders in his insistence on getting this stimulus money secured. If that says anything to you, it should. He’s a leader who will make demands from his political superiors to get done what he said he would do.

Secondly, President 44 must quickly erase the mistakes of President 43, via executive orders. He must move swiftly to reverse executive orders regarding torture of terror suspects, the military prison at Guantanamo Bay and other controversial security policies. Not just for campaign promises but for our diplomatic standing and even moral relevance. “I was a constitutional law professor, which means unlike the current president, I actually respect the Constitution,” Obama told an audience at a campaign fundraiser in 2007. And he keeps insisting that “there is only one President at a time”, but it seems he’s been more Presidential in the past month than W. has in eight years. And as I said before, I hope, and believe, that he will move as quickly as possible to remove the stains from a failed administration.

Third, they must make good. If sustained Democratic presence is going to be maintained in DC, and in communities across America, we need to see viable improvement in the next two years. Unemployment numbers are going to get worse before they get better (Say 10%?), I fully expect ’09 to be another down year in the financial/credit markets, and violence abroad will not completely cease. Americans need to be steadfast in holding their government responsible going forward.

On Election night, Barack said it would take up to ‘a full-term in office’ to possibly begin to curb the failures of the past eight years. He now has the toughest job in modern politics but he has a Democratic congress, like Bill Clinton did before, to achieve the results we so desperately are clinging to.

On November 5th, people danced in the streets across planet Earth at the renewed idea of America and what we stand for. If that doesn’t excite your hopes for the forthcoming ‘Obama years’, I don’t know what can. In one day our world standing was returned. In a world where China, India, and Russia are making progress, America was able to establish their sole position on top with the election of one man.

Can they live up to the hype? No one can know. But Americans made the right decision to curb the inadequacies of the past administration and give the other guy’s a turn. At the least, the ’10 and ’12 elections should be entertaining.