I’ve noticed that my liberal friends are all ga-ga about Obama. “He’s going to bring us paradise on Earth!!”

I’ve noticed that my conservative friends are all mumbly, grumbly about Obama. “He’s going to spend us into a hole with his gosh-darned big government mentality.”

Then there are a bunch of people who are just plain cynical.

I challenge you to do more than give in to your pre-existing beliefs and knee-jerk reactions. Leave a comment, please! Share what do you believe he will or won’t do. And more importantly, let us know what, specifically, to watch, to know if he’s meeting your expectations.

For example, “I believe Obama will fix the schools.” Great, but how will you know? “In four years, our international ranking in math and science will be X.” Or, “97% of all kids who enter high school (as measured by the report at highschoolstats.com) will go to college, up from 35% now.”

Spend a few moments and identify real, honest-to-goodness measures you might use to determine if your hopes and fears come to pass.

Then come back in a couple of years to find out if your fears/hopes were justified. If not, give some deep thought to how you might adjust your attitude to be more realistic the next time around.