Earn It.

I keep having to slap myself when I hear the words “president-elect Barack Obama.” It’s hard to believe. Tuesday night was like some kind of breakthrough therapy session in which I discovered I don’t have to stay in this abusive presidential relationship I’ve suffered through for the past eight years. I can demand better. We can demand better.

Most people who know me know I wasn’t a big Obama supporter in the beginning. I liked John Edwards. So much for that judgment. But I think Obama grew into his campaign as the season went on and as his campaign expanded. His little grassroots movement evolved into a presidential campaign and Obama evolved into a presidential candidate.

Some of my perspective is no doubt based on the fact that he became the only choice on the Democratic side, and I intended to vote Democratic all along. But watching Obama conduct himself on the campaign trail and in the debates with the tirelessly angry John McCain, Obama became presidential. And watching him Tuesday night, I was proud to have voted for him, proud to have volunteered for his campaign and proud that he will be our president.

Pride in a president … it’s going to take a while to get used to that. I thought Bill Clinton was a good president, but I can’t say I was proud he was the president. I mean, Monica Lewinsky? Really? George W. Bush, the president for the past eight years, has been one of the worst in U.S. history, a nearly illiterate rube with a religious imperialist mind and a penchant for violence. So essentially for the past 16 years (in my book, anyway) pride in a president has been something unknown to me.

Now, Obama has a chance to make us all proud. The important ingredients appear to be there: He seems thoughtful, articulate, confident, diplomatic and cool under pressure. Roughly 65.4 million other people think so, too, or at least hope so. And so for myself and all of them, I have one request of the new president:

Earn it.

There’s a lot of hard work ahead. From a pragmatic standpoint, Obama has to put in place an administration that can devise solutions to the country’s myriad economic and foreign policy problems and, just as importantly, get those solutions implemented. On a more idealistic note, Obama can use his gift for oratory and the power of his office to rally the nation and bring people together behind concrete proposals. For without workable solutions, rallies are meaningless and without broad buy-in from the public, solutions won’t work.

Twice this fall I gave Obama my time, driving to Iowa with friends to knock on doors and build his base of support. That work made seeing Iowa turn blue on Election Night that much more gratifying. But I gave Obama something more valuable than my time this election. I gave him my vote. And as historic as his election is, by itself it’s not enough.

How does he earn it? By rejecting the kind of political cronyism to which we’ve all become accustomed; by seeking common ground instead of emphasizing differences; by always doing what he thinks is best for the country and not appeasing special interests; and by reaching out to the rest of the world rather than building walls to “protect” us from it. That would make for a good start, anyway.

On Inauguration Day Obama would do well to say he understands the hope many have placed with him, but that it’s only partly up to him to fulfill that great hope. Some kind of John F. Kennedy-esque reference to how we’re all in this together and that government is here to pull with you, not for you would, I think, set the correct tone for the next four years. Selfishly I’d also like to see proposals to reconstitute a nationwide passenger rail network and rebuild our urban infrastructure. Those would be solid long-term investments that would put people to work and go a lot further toward restoring our economy than one-time bailouts for financial firms and automakers.

But I’m getting ahead here. Obama hasn’t even taken office yet. We have a two and a half more months to watch and wait.

No doubt for some—including those who bought into the “Obama is a Socialist” nonsense—Jan. 20 is looming like a root canal. They can’t fathom the idea of a Democrat in the White House and don’t know what to make of a man who uses polysyllabic words. They don’t trust a man from the city, much less one from Chicago. They are probably dreading the next four years, and maybe they should be. The future is no place for people who cling to the fears and old ideas of the past.

For my part, it’s nice to be on the other side of that equation for once—actually looking forward to a new president, a new beginning. Looking ahead to a future of hope.