Yesterday's general election was history in the making, no matter what you may have thought of the possible outcomes.

Barack Obama's enthusiasm, elocution and charisma brought tens of thousands of young people out to vote and vote they did - leading Obama's path to victory.

John McCain's female running mate may not be the first woman in history to be a viable candidate for vice-president, but she proved to be far more popular than Geraldine Ferrarro. While many Republicans were initially lukewarm about McCain, who was a fairly liberal candidate, Sarah Palin captured the enthusiasm of soccer moms, outdoorsmen and others with her own can-do spirit and charisma.

No matter which way the election turned out, it was going to be an historic one. America's first African-American president or America's first woman vice president.

For the first time in many years over half the registered voters apparently did just that, they got out and voted, which was a great thing, considering the general apathy of the past two decades, especially among young people.

Barack Obama may have initially appeared as an unlikely candidate, but he won the day, despite a barrage of negative campaigning and false claims about his background, his religion and his citizenship status. We hope that in the future people who have used slander and innuendoes to promote negative campaigning learn that it didn't work this time and that it's best to give voters something to vote for, instead of someone to vote against.

Over the next few years, President Obama will face many challenges. Many of those challenges will come from within his own party which was divided harshly during the primaries with old school Clinton supporters who were vehemently opposed to Obama's unorthodox style and ways and wanted Hillary Clinton back in the White House. Whether these people can learn to get along after dividing the Democratic Party is anybody's guess.

Our economy is on shaky ground due to a massive banking fiasco which took years to develop as shady lenders approved questionable loans to people who could not afford for the overpriced properties they purchased.

And the American public is disenchanted with politicians in general due to an unpopular war, highway robbery at the gas pumps and a disgusting federal bail out of the shady lenders which most people violently opposed while both Obama and McCain supported.

Hopefully, the different parties in Washington will be able to get past their differences and start looking to the future and working together for the benefit of the American public first, instead of playing "business as usual."

We have a lot of problems to be solved. Hopefully President Obama and our elected officials in Washington will be able to rise to the occasion and address these topics with intelligence and candor instead of playing the politics of the past.