Can an event simultaneously be improbable and inevitable? With the advantage of hindsight, that is how many would describe the election of Barack Obama as president of the United States one year ago. It's a reminder that in America, a possibility can move at exponential speed and give rise to events that no one thought could happen.

As we think back to the final months of the 2008 presidential campaign, we remember the crashing of the American economy, the drama of a political battle fought in the full glare of a 24-hour news cycle and the pride we felt in this Hawaii son achieving unique heights. There were sad moments, too, like candidate Obama returning to see Tutu and then her passing away just days before the election.

Looking back, we also now see that although Barack Obama was not sworn in as president until January, his work was beginning as he was campaigning, because the challenges for this country had become so enormous.

Remember that our economy was in freefall last year, with some economists predicting a second Great Depression. The new president took immediate action necessary to rescue us from the edge of the abyss, stemming the spread of foreclosures, restoring the flow of credit for families and businesses, and enacting the broadest recovery package in history.

With America's esteem in the world at a low ebb, the president appointed Hillary Clinton as secretary of state and set about rebuilding relationships to better deal with the many threats to America and the free world. Her appointment was perfect, as he selected a highly skilled and experienced former rival to his new team to bring together disparate forces around the world. Talk about leading by example. And while the challenges of a dangerous world remain, we are now equipped with the strength of our international allies in confronting them.

Domestically, we're on the edge of passing the most sweeping domestic reform in more than 30 years, providing tens of millions of Americans with health care and beginning to fix our broken system. If successful, the Obama administration will no doubt move quickly on renewable energy, hoping to lead America to a cleaner energy future, strengthening our economic hand and helping to reverse global climate change.

But the naysaying continues, just as President Obama assured us it would.

From the left, he is moving too slow. From the right, he is moving too fast. The national pundits are worried he's trying to do too much, except when they characterize him as too cautious.

Too slow, too fast, too left, too right? For the critics who say progress is too slow, remember that this administration has already taken action in women's rights, eliminating torture, preserving the environment, and civil liberties.

For those who say he's moving too fast, remember the times in which we live. We don't have the luxury to choose between fixing the economy and reforming health care, or between stabilizing Iraq and solving Afghanistan. We must handle multiple challenges simultaneously.

Perhaps the best way to understand the balancing of "the fierce urgency of now" and a respect for the democratic process is to turn back to his book "The Audacity of Hope" in which he writes:

"What the framework of our Constitution can do is organize the way by which we argue about our future. All of its elaborate machinery are designed to force us into a conversation, a 'deliberative democracy' in which all citizens are required to engage in a process of testing their ideas against an external reality, persuading others of their point of view, and building shifting alliances of consent."

When I read this passage, I don't hear a radical voice — I hear an American president who believes deeply in the American system of democracy and wants us to use it to do good. While presidential and American power is immense, Barack Obama understands its limitations, and knows that the political discourse in America needs to be not about left or right, but forward or backward.

That Obama is such an unapologetic believer in democracy may be what most scares the extremist critics. And that he believes we get the government we deserve by getting involved and taking person responsibility for our future is fundamental to his leadership.

Two more observations. First, Obama has many Hawaii faces on his team, including retired four-star Gen. Eric Shinseki; Gov. Linda Lingle's former Cabinet member Ray Jefferson; McKinley High School graduate and American heroine Tammy Duckworth; and Obama campaign guru Andy Winer.

Finally, we all understand that an enormous amount of work remains to be done domestically and internationally. The path we chose last November was to rebuild America. That takes all of us, and it takes time.