Cautiously Optimistic Leaning Towards Pessimistic

I'm feeling mixed emotions about what happened today, that is, Barrack Obama wining the presidency. I walked out of my studio at 1 am and was escorted home by the sounds of jubilant Obama fan blasting their car horns. I passed high fives and cheers amongst african-americans who didn't even know each-other. I even saw heard conversations between the static residents of West Philadelphia and the transient students of U Penn and Drexel; something that never happens. It was beautiful to see how meaningful this event was for the African American community. I overheard a girl crying with joy, and a security guard say that for the first time he was voting for someone and not against someone. What Obama has done is an obvious milestone in African-American, American, and 21st Century History.
I got home to find my living room and kitchen filled with the remnants of a fraternity-esque party conducted by my other college age roommates. Even the upper-middle class white people were happy to see a milestone of their own. For the first time they felt their vote count, like a child who has spent his whole life not getting any attention or being given any familial role has all of a sudden been asked to choose this year's family vacation. Not only that, but young people have begun to realize just how much of an impact what happens in DC affects them. Who knew that the collapse of an economy, the threat of war or the upset of a world order would actually have any bearing on my life?
Some other nice things happened today, like republicans voting outside the party line or the elderly and middle aged being in sync with the youth. Thats all well and fine.
I'm concerned though with a fundamental flaw that Americans (and perhaps humans in general) seem to inherent generation after generation. We are at once short-sighted and forgetful. Our perception of the world only exceeds a year or so in to the future and a year or two in to the past. We jump on big ideas which don't bode very well for the future. Industrialization is a great example. But what happened after the first cities were ransacked with ebola and children were losing their hands to giant mechanical monsters by the hour didn't teach us much, only, if you were going to keep up such a tribal existence, you were going to need more slaves aka, the poor.
It is this principle of humanity, the doubly lacking foresight and hindsight, that has us so worked up about Obama. He may ver well be the man for the job, but i've yet to see him action. Sure he may have tossed around a few votes in a couple senate meetings, but who hasn't these days? Although he was bred for greatness in halls covered with ivy vines, but then again, I can't remember the last president who wasn't. So how this different from anything we've seen before? Because he's black? That may be so, but he's also a man, not a God. We've gotten so caught up in this year-long mythological chronicle of the best warriors battling their way to the top wielding money for spears and slogans for flags that we've forgotten about the real powers; the cosmos.
I'm keeping one eyebrow cocked and an ear to the ground this year, lest the cosmos reign down their wrath on our new warrior-king.