For the moment it appears that the acrimony and bitter party politics is over.. It appears, judging from the wall-to-wall network coverage--even FOX NEWS' Fox and Friends are joyous from the Inaugural site, though they are one of the few nets interviewing soon to be Bush staffers--that the world really did change.

Young people dancing in the streets, according to Peggy Noonan this morning on MORNING JOE. Even Pat Buchanan said that the past is being put behind us..

Can this last forever? Can this hopeful joy continue throughout the Obama Presidency? Not likely. Politics, as usual, will creep its head again. The Constitution was designed to slow things down--it was purposely made for the legislative body to check the executive, and to ensure the courts would have their say, too. That's the genius of the Constitution: Regardless of how much wind is at someone's sails, the agenda for better or worse will still be slowed. The founders and framers of the nation may not have been too happy with Barack's election. After all, at the time most were slave owners and only thought of rich white men as those able to vote. Maybe Ben Franklin would have appreciated Barack Obama's election, though. Franklin had a mixed record on race, but a little more improved than some other members of his time..

Throughout history we've had defining periods in time.. George Washington made the astute decision to self-limit his term in office, even though people would have accepted him serving as a king. Abraham Lincoln, though he wasn't considered an Abolitionist by any stretch, found himself moving down a path of liberating slaves.. Rutherford B. Hayes ended Reconstruction so he could get elected president, perhaps forever betraying the deaths of the Civil War. There could be a lot of debate as to whether Radical Republicans helped or hurt, the true enemy during Reconstruction were not former slaves: But instead radical whites in the South that wanted to do anything they could to stop black citizens from achieving rights..

It took generations before African Americans achieved a recognized status as a human in the United States. A long history of lynch mobs in which white families often even bought tickets to see it.. Posed in photos.

In the 1950s, another accidental piece of history occurred that forever changed race relations: Dwight Eisenhower became the unlikely man to send federal troops into a Little Rock school to escort black students in. It wasn't because Eisenhower had huge concerns for African American students, but because he was attempting to uphold the rule of law; The Brown vs Board of Education in 1954 ruled that all laws establishing segregation in schools was unconstitutional.

Flash forward to John F. Kennedy: Gunned down before Americans had time to see what he would really do.. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the day we are celebrating today, gunned down before he had the chance to see further civil rights laws enacted to protect African Americans..

And finally: Fast forward to Barack Obama.. A year ago people from all circles commented that America would never elect a black man to the highest office in the world. Regardless of party, in 2008, America showed naysayers that those old days of racial divides may have a hope of being conquered.. Those old days of mobs and painful lynchings.. civil wars and civil rights.. segregation and separate, "but equal," bathrooms.. We've come a long way. Perhaps this will finally put a rest to racial divides? Maybe it will now end the oldest war in our country--dating back generations: Race.

In 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Lincoln. Though it was not as expansive as some may think (it applied only to states that had seceded from the Union), it became an important document in the history of race relations.

Did Obama fulfill the dream ?

The amazing part about Barack Obama is what his history says about us more than him: Only year after we took our Saddam Hussein, our new president's middle name is Hussein.. he's white, he's black.. he's red, he's blue. He holds values of the past but pronounces an end to the division.. he proclaims he can end our wars, and says we can get out of our Depression.. he is filled with giant statements.. he's tall and thin like Lincoln but often a terrible debater.. his speeches command attention, but are they just words?

Regardless of why he is there or how we got here: President Obama will be Inaugurated in mere hours, and he signifies a giant leap for humankind.. Or is that too much? Do I sound like MSNBC now? Am I getting chills down my legs? Did Obama walk on water yet?

Lincoln's monument looked down on Obama last night (after some terrible performances from Bon Jovi and U2).. As that statue of Lincoln watched, he saw an African American speaking to hundreds of thousands of people happy that we are moving in a new direction.

But when we move in that direction, will we still be happy? Time will tell. Old divisions can still bleed--and may again bleed red and blue.

Photo above: AP Photo/Charles Dharapak