Another election day has come and passed, and there's much speculation  
about the impact of the event on the state of our nation. Watching the  
pundits on cable television on election night, I heard all kinds of  
ideas ranging from the "GOP Sweep" of Virginia and New Jersey to  
the national consequences of the results.

 

As you may know by now, one of the biggest contests, New York 23, was  
won by the Democrat- not the Independent- Conservative. Much has been  
made about the wins and the losses and whether that says something  
about our national condition as opposed to one year ago when  
President Obama was elected.

I think that in the fervor of hope, many people had unrealistic goals  
of what could be accomplished. Watching HBO's new documentary, "We the  
People: the Election of Barack Obama," I was reminded about the  
complete dissolution of hope that our country experienced during the  
past Bush years, even going back to Clinton with Monica Lewinsky.  
Obama said that we could believe in government again if we could  
believe in ourselves- we are the change we have been waiting for.

Now that he has been in office for 9 months, some people say he's been  
a great success and others, a miserable failure. Personally, I can't  
make a judgement call with such a limited time in office to pick from.  
However, it is our job to keep our politicians accountable for their  
decisions, even if we don't agree with them.

More than anything, the pundintry represents the biggest problem we  
have in society; lots of ideas and speculation without any hard,  
concrete evidence to back it up. Does a win in Virginia or New Jersey  
mean a Conservative Revolution is upon us? Does the Democratic win in  
New York 23 mean the liberals can do whatever they want? Absolutely not.

However, what it does show is that people want leaders to take a stand  
for something. If it succeeds, great. But if it fails, own the  
failure, fix it and move forward. The social media revolution has  
given us the tools to have this conversation, and Teabaggers can thank  
Obama for that.

But in many regards, I think a lot of are still waiting. Change has  
come, and the winds are beginning to take sail, but the ship hasn't  
taken off. We just need someone to steer it somewhere, instead of  
waiting for a pundit's permission to accept the consequences.