Change is in the air with a new President taking the helm of the nation on Jan. 20. Barack Obama beat the odds and showed that the American people have made amazing strides away from racism in just a few generations. He has also given the Democrats a chance to make good on their promises and energized a new generation of potential public servants.

Regardless of how you voted, now it’s time to rally behind the new leadership, as have President and the Republican nominee. After an unusually long and contentious election campaign, John McCain delivered an exceptionally gracious concession speech and President Bush has shown an early willingness to help with a smooth transition.

That’s what makes America great – an orderly change of power despite strong feelings until the final decision was made and, hopefully, the ability to shake off the political posturing that could lead to long-time antagonisms.

The nation faces a troubled road and there are no quick solutions. The most important thing all of our new leaders can do is bury the party politics that has marked the recent past. The President-elect has promised to work across party lines and to keep an open mind. He has said that he does not want to surround himself with “yes men.” If the leader of the most powerful nation in the world can do that, so can the elected representatives on the national, state, and local levels.

There’s no telling what we can do with a spirit of cooperation rather than confrontation, with a feeling that shared ideas are more powerful than divisive ones.