The masses gathered, processions moved down Pennsylvania Avenue, oaths were taken and history was made on Jan. 20. Well – now what?

Jan. 21, 2009 is the day that marks the beginning of things yet to be done.

The U.S. economy needs dialysis to flush out the bad energy permeating this country. Infrastructure of all sorts, be them bridges, roads, power plants, communications and a host of others, need to be modernized. A re-assertion of better education, with an emphasis on fields that facilitate the refitting of the U.S. economy, is paramount.

All of these endeavors will challenge everyone involved, whether it is President Barack Obama or an entry-level employee fresh out of college.

Will everyone dislike the hard times that are most certainly to come? Will everyone’s warm feelings toward the incoming Obama administration fade as soon as an unpopular decision is made? Will the gold standard by which we judge this new presidency tarnish a bit in the coming weeks and months of uncertainty? All signs point to probably.

But what is the actual indicator for whoever takes control of a country peacefully? Mahatma Gandhi never took up the mantle of leadership past the peaceful protests that he orchestrated against his British oppressors in India. Nelson Mandela was elected president years after his release from prison for his brave opposition to Apartheid. Actual popularity is something a person receives when the darkest moment passes and that person can show he or she stands resolute to confront the problem head-on.

The measuring stick that has sized up the likes of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, FDR, JFK, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton will be used often on Obama – that measuring stick is the American people. Our confidence in the active president of the United States is a litmus test for how well relations are throughout the rest of the nation, and it is something all presidents have been and will be mindful of, either as a passing thought or an obsession while running the country.

What is different about Obama is that he has expressed his confidence in the American people, and has been on record stating as such. So now that we have the confidence of the 44th President of the United States of America, we ought to roll up our sleeves and get right to work on what is needed to be done next – even if we don’t know where to begin or how to start quite yet.

I’m sure Obama will give us the directions as soon as his one-day honeymoon is over.

E-mail the author: David G. Peterson