What's next? President Obama laid it out; now we will see how it plays out

So the gauntlet has been thrown -- and while there were bits of conciliation and a hint that perhaps there might be some shared goals -- the country needs to buckle its seatbelts.

It is going to be a rocky ride.

The very nature of the two-party system in Washington is controversy.

These are two groups who have very different visions of the country.

And as President Barack Obama announced last night, he doesn't have to run again.

And that means that he does not have to work so hard to win friends and to influence people.

Translated: Ideology and his agenda rule and the rest of the leaders in Washington can go along, or they can spend the next two years fighting off vetoes and battling executive orders.

But there is hope. There is a reality about being a president in his last two years in office -- and no one escapes it. You might not have to run again, but your party does.

Although his State of the Union included just a bit of grandstanding, President Obama really cannot stray too far from what the majority of the American people want for their future.

And he cannot ignore whom they put in charge.

So it might just be up to us to determine how the next two years are going to go.

We might have to make a little noise to let both sides know what we want done, and then hold them accountable for the result.

Published in Editorials on January 21, 2015 10:54 AM