What nobody is going to listen to during inauguration week is cynicism, or anything that savors thereof: the sound of pins pricking happy balloons, the minimizing tone of voice that says, "Ummm, HMMM, just you wait "
When it comes to Barack Obama, we're not into that. We're into -- no cynicism intended -- a Lincoln moment. Really, a post-Lincoln moment, in that when the Great Emancipator took the oath of office in 1861 he had emancipated no slaves whatever, and in truth, didn't make up his own mind to do so for more than two years. Of Barack Obama, 28th in line behind Lincoln (if you count Cleveland's two terms separately), Great Things are expected, and expected imminently. 
We'll see how it goes. For conservatives some pleasant surprises could lie ahead, for liberals some frustration and disappointment (and thus, for conservatives, more pleasant surprises!).
The "we'll see" factor in all this means that time spent prognosticating about economic recovery, or nuclear weapons in Iran, or Medicare, or Supreme Court appointments doesn't make much sense. The best thing about prognostications is that few who hear them remember them. No one really knows, though media sages -- especially those on the cable channels -- often seem to know everything.
A point worth noting, in precisely this context, is the comparative insignificance of electoral politics in daily life. Comparative -- not absolute. Politics matters. It merely happens to matter less than politicians and their enablers, including many of us voters, generally suppose.
It doesn't matter whether the Republicans or the Democrats are in: They're going to mess up, fall short and disappoint. My own sense of the matter is that Republicans tend to mess up less frequently than Democrats, but on the evidence of the past half dozen years, that claim might not stand up even in a Republican-controlled federal appeals court.
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