It’s probably time to step back for a reality check.

There were chants, cheers and millions watching. The fans were dressed warm with toboggans and scarves to combat the weather. During the tense and emotional moments, you could hear a pin drop, millions just waiting. And then, just like that, the crowd would erupt with hoots and hollers when they liked what they were witnessing.

This wasn’t the Super Bowl, although it’s about that time of year. The attention was going to the inauguration of now-President Barack Obama  — and everyone was watching.

The critics. The fanatics. The blacks, whites and the Hispanics; everyone was listening and waiting to hear some kind of hope. Hundreds gathered in our own Student Center. In the Ag North Building, you couldn’t even walk because of so many people deadlocked to hear their new commander in chief.

They all just want a taste of change.

But with all this anticipation, some people are going to have a bad taste in their mouth in the months to come. Because this is a time for hope, change and new politics. But Obama faces dark times, and a long road ahead.

“(During inaugural speeches), words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and still waters of peace,” Obama said early in his inaugural speech. “Yet, every so often, the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms.”

He knows it. It’s the fact that we are in such dark times that everyone is so excited about him, and the potential ‘change.’ But does everyone else know it?

Obama lists off wars, a bad economy, costly health care, schools that are failing their students, wasteful use of energy and even more, if you can write fast enough to copy them down. The Bush Administration leaves a pile of paperwork stacked to the Oval Office’s ceiling that will take years to get through and properly re-file.

“Today, I say to you that the challenges we face are real, they are serious, and they are many,” he said.

America may or may not have been listening right there. “Challenges” is not nearly as captivating as the word “change.” The crowd itself was just waiting in silence for the next sign of hope.

“They will not be met easily, or in a short span of time.”

Still silent.

“But know this America,”

This is where their heads perked a little.

“They will be met.”

Insert eruption of cheers here.

Tuesday was certainly a day for celebration. The entire weekend has been one for the ages. Celebrate today, and keep going tomorrow.

In six months, when the Obama Administration has barely been able to make sense of what is in the manila envelopes for the Bush files on wars, the failing economy and health care, just remember: hope.

Should you start giving up though, turn to his speech, and remember what he has promised, and what he has asked of us:

“On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that, for far too long, have strangled our politics.

“We remain a young nation, but in the words of scripture: The time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit, to choose our better history, to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea passed on from generation to generation, the God given promise that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.”

We have chosen this part of our history. Now, it’s just time to be patient.

And hope.