---
title: "The Hard Work Starts Now: Voters, Broccoli and Ice-cream"
date: 2008-11-06T00:22:19Z
modified: 2008-11-06T00:22:19Z
permalink: "https://redmonk.com/jgovernor/the-hard-work-starts-now-voters-broccoli-and-ice-cream/"
type: post
status: publish
excerpt: ""
wpid: 1628
categories:
  - Uncategorized
timestamp: 2008-11-06T00:22:19Z
tags:
  - Uncategorized
---

![](http://www.chinposin.com/avatars/twitter_cathcam2008-11-04-16-00-11_normal.jpg)

Voting in a new president helps solves some US image problems, but doesn’t deal with many of the [the core issues](http://radar.oreilly.com/2008/10/why-i-support-barack-obama.html) facing us today. We need to be very careful to manage our own expectations at this point. The oceans have _not_ [stopped rising](http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D912VD200&show_article=1). Barack Obama is not the messiah. Of course he is not [a very naughty boy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_the_Messiah), either, but we need to get real. I have high hopes for Barack – he could be one of the best presidents the country has ever had. But that is conditional, **unrealised** potential right now. Obama hasn’t even taken office yet. We need to take a deep breath, be _quietly_ proud of ourselves for finally waking up, but realise the challenges only start now.

In his speech last night our president elect said:

> “This victory alone does not represent the change we seek.”

Amen, Brother.

Last night Sadcox Galt said, in a post entitled [I Love Cake](http://www.itfrom.us/2008/11/i-love-cake/):

> I’ve been watching, listening, reading for most of those minutes, and I have to say I’m a little shocked at the reaction of some of his supporters. While I admire your optimism, I wonder if you aren’t setting yourselves up for some major disappointment. I was worried that people may have set their expectations a little high, but now I’m pretty sure of it.

One of my key themes in consulting with Microsoft and Sun this week is [Broccoli and Ice-cream](http://www.redmonk.com/jgovernor/2008/06/18/on-soa-broccoli-and-ice-cream/). Its hard to persuade people to eat their broccoli, whereas ice-cream is easy. Tax cuts are ice-cream. Belt-tightening is broccoli. We just ate our dessert first- that is, we got the ice-cream. But now its time for our broccoli.

As Winston Churchill, a man who truly realised his potential, once said:

> “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning”.

If America is to be a great nation it must act like one. If we are to be a great people we must play our part. Let’s dial down the expectation and dial up the effort. Its now time, more than ever, to [work on things that matter](http://radar.oreilly.com/2008/10/tim-in-the-la-times-on-getting.html).

Google is just a company. Obama is just a man. America is just a country. How can his election victory possibly be [the defining moment of his presidency](http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/haque/2008/11/obamas_seven_lessons_for_radic.html)? Wall Street had a clear purpose, and a frame most of us bought into – making money whatever the external costs.

Its time to get real. Lets roll our sleeves up.