America has chosen a new direction for itself.

While the change that happened on Tuesday night is still fresh in the air, Americans must stay organized and energized. Now is not the time to put blind faith in Obama and expect him to have the courage to make the dreams he spoke of during the election a reality.

I am cautiously optimistic about the future under President Obama, and Americans should be too. This is not cynicism; it’s far from that, it’s about ensuring that the movement for change that grew during the election does not die.

In the next two and half months before Obama takes office many will try to convince Obama to adopt same old bush-style policies as the economic disaster continues. This will include a scale-back of his plans for improving health care, abandoning environmental regulations and halting the tax increases on the rich. This must be countered by all those who supported the change that Obama promised. The protests need to be louder than ever before. Americans must raise their voice and demand that they don’t go backwards and that they in fact move forward under Obama. Only the first battle has been won, there will be many more to fight.

At the same time, Americans need to raise their voices against anything that will allow Bush to lock in power for his cronies. During the transition period, neoconservatives will work hard to preserve any power they can, and progressives must fight this. This includes halting the passing on of a massive debt to the next Administration, as hundreds of billions of dollars are robbed from Americans and given to Wall Street as Main Street suffers. This robbery effectively prevents Obama from implementing the change Americans voted for, because he simply won’t be able to afford it.

Getting Obama elected was only the first step. Americans now must seize the opportunity to ensure that the change they voted for is brought forth.