At 11 a.m. today, history will take place, as the first African-American President will be sworn in.

Once the historic moment is over, the Barack Obama administration will begin.

Being the first anything is difficult, but Obama will find himself in two places throughout his term in office: in the spotlight and under the microscope.

Many people want our new President to succeed, but many others want him to fail, and fail miserably, for whatever reason, and at whatever cost to our nation.

People will be watching President Obama very closely, waiting for the least mistake so they can say, “This is why we haven’t elected an African-American President before!”

Still others will be watching expectantly, hoping to get out of President Obama what they or their groups were unable to get out of previous administrations because of perceived racial inequities.

For America to succeed, we have to look at Barack Obama as our elected President, just as we would any other candidate, and hope and pray that he would do the country well, just as we would for any other newly-elected President.

Before passing any kind of judgement, we need to allow Obama time to be the President. The historic time will come and go. There is still a lot of work to do.