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If there is anything to learn from the election of a few days ago: 'It is the economy stupid." Those lines were uttered half in jest by former President Bill Clinton more than a decade ago. Clinton had it right and research has shown that people vote their pocketbooks first, then everything else.

Barack Obama offers a bold type of leadership. In winning the presidency with greater than half of the votes cast, he showed that his grasp of the economic problems are real and his plans to right the economy are on the right track in the minds of the American public. Yes, he did get the African American vote, by in large, but the AA population was not the only segment of society voted for him.

He had a tanked economy on his side, with seemingly no concrete plans to right it. The Bush Administration, with its lame duck status, provided no leadership, and could not have been expected to, except for the huge bailout bill, backed by Treasury Secretary Paulson. We will all be paying for that one for generations to come.

The people of this country may lean slightly to the right of center, but they showed last Tuesday that a new era has dawned in America. Jesse Jackson tried more than once to win the Presidency, but couldn't. He couldn't get over his methodology of the angry black man and he turned people off. In his view, -African-Americans were the victims of a white controlled society, in which black people benefited none. He may or may not have been right.

The American people took a chance on a new President, a man largely unknown to most of the American public as little as two years ago. The election showed that the people are willing to take a risk on a neophyte if they think he can do right by its problems, even those beyond the economy. American took a chance on Abraham Lincoln, though it was a different time, the country had a lot of problems, not least of which was the coming Civil War. He was largely very effective, though there are those who would argue differently. American took a chance with 42 year old John F. Kennedy, who by most accounts was a pretty ineffective member of the national legislature before he sought the 'Big Chair.' His family name, his good looks and his father's money and contacts did not hurt at all. He had less than three years in office to 'prove' himself. Had he lived, he could very well have been one of the great modern presidents.

The people of America are pretty amazing. They grouse about this and they grouse about that. But in the end they are willing to accept change, even just for a few years.

Learn more about this author, Tom Ontis.
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