Mal Fletcher
Barack Obama will become the forty-fourth US president and the first African-American to hold that high office. He is also, at the age of forty-seven, the first member of the so-called Generation X to fill that role - but more on that shortly.
President-elect Obama will take office at a time of great uncertainty in his nation. It faces a debt of something like one trillion dollars, is fighting a war on two fronts and is almost certainly approaching a recession.
On top of all this, its currency of moral influence in the world has taken a battering over the past few years, as news of abuses of POWs and questions about the legality of the Iraq war have dominated news cycles.
In a radio interview recently, I was asked what I thought of the fear and apprehension some people are expressing about the largely unknown senator from Illinois.
I don't think it's Obama per se that some people fear, or claim to; it is more likely the idea of change itself.
Yes, much about Obama's attitudes remains a mystery to us, but that must surely be the case with most incumbents when they are young and, in terms of public service, relatively inexperienced.
But we can hardly expect someone of 47 years of age to have served in the Senate for as long as his opponent, Senator McCain. And a relative lack of past experience does not necessarily equal a lack of judgement for the future, which is after all the key quality one looks for in a national leader.
After his inauguration in January, President Obama will need to quickly establish himself in four areas.
First, he must keep his stated commitment to govern for all Americans.
In his victory speech he made reference to Republicans who had served the country with distinction. It was his way of demonstrating his respect for gifted leaders on both sides of the political aisle. He must express that respect with more than words, perhaps by including Republicans in his cabinet.
Secondly, he will need to prove that he can add pragmatism to his clear skills as an idealist, dream-caster and communicator.
He has evidently built around him a strong and talented team thus far. If this is an indication of his skills as a pragmatist, Americans may feel encouraged.
If he is typical of his generation, Barack Obama will bring a level of pragmatic thinking into everything he does. Gen-Xers are, generally, less impressed with pure idealism than their Boomer forebears. They tend to listen to the dream then demand to know how it can be achieved.
So perhaps this will be true of Mr Obama, who has already demonstrated his appeal to the idealists among us.
