Hope is not enough

What an amazing day.  Today was a day filled with excitement, joy and most of all, hope.  Specifically, hope for an inspirational leader to steer us out of our current crisis.  As millions gathered on the chilly Washington national mall to see Barack Obama’s inauguration, the sense of hope clearly permeated the crowd.

But hope is not enough.

It will take more than just hope.  “Hope” can be the battle cry but the cry alone won’t win the battle.  Turning this ship around will take the definition of concrete but achievable goals.  It will take planning.  It will take execution.  It will take leveraging the right experts and networks, organizations and countries to help.  It will take laser focus and surgical precision.
I think Barack Obama and his administration are intelligent, interesting and capable.  But to achieve the stated goals, they will need to define, plan and execute as well as they preach hope, or hope will be all we have left.