Keller @ Large: Have Some Faith In Our Democracy

BOSTON (CBS) - Today is the big day, and to the Trump supporters in the audience, congratulations and good luck.

Here's hoping all his campaign promises of jobs, better wages and more affordable health care come true.

And to the Trump deplorers, full of dire expectations, some useful advice: try to relax a little.

Think back to eight years ago today, as Barack Obama began his first term.

Frantic conservatives predicted the worst. He was a socialist who would finish off what was left of an economy already in recession, they said, an America-hater who would happily stand by as our enemies had their way.

Among the other paranoid fantasies floated about President Obama during the past eight years: he wanted "death panels" to decide the fate of the sick and elderly, he would turn us into an Islamic nation under Sharia law, he hoped to herd young people into PC reeducation camps, he was coming for your guns, your gold, and your retirement account.

Unlike the new president, Obama had some political experience and a calm, dignified disposition. That didn't save him from blunders, and perhaps Trump will do better.

But it's worth remembering that very little of the hysteria that greeted the Obama era proved to be valid, and the same is likely to be true of the Trump era.

We have a system of checks and balances that, however imperfect, has proven effective over the years.

Instead of fearing the worst, have some faith in our democracy, and let's react going forward to facts and actions, not fears and fantasies.

Listen to Jon's commentary: