Despite the majority of voters in Tuesday’s presidential election saying they believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, President Obama is returning to the White House for another four years.

Obama won the presidency even with a high unemployment figure, a potentially disastrous national debt, lower incomes for many in the middle class and other potentially fatal economic conditions.

There will be much finger-pointing within the Republican Party about how Obama was able to overcome these negative factors and why Mitt Romney was unable to oust the man sitting in the White House who allowed the country to sink into a much more dangerous position and condition over the past four years.

Obama made many wonderful, grand-sounding pledges four years go when he won the 2008 election. Unfortunately, most of these pledges turned out to be hollow. The nation’s populace is just as, if not more, polarized today as it was in November 2008, with little legitimate effort by Obama and his House and Senate leaders to work with GOP leaders.

Early Wednesday morning, appearing before a joyous victory celebration crowd, Obama repeated many of the same grand-sounding pledges. Is there any reason to believe he will follow through on these goals any better than he has during the past four years?

For the good of this country, it is essential he follows through on his lofty statements about the importance of working together.

Obama won the election with a superior campaign strategy. He took advantage of his massive “ground troop” organization carried over from his 2008 campaign. Romney had to survive a tough, heated primary campaign and, from the outset, the Obama camp effectively demonized Romney and attacked his character with the help of many in the nation’s major news media. The GOP failed to win support from minorities and young voters, and Obama’s strategists were superior in the timing and location of money spent in the campaign.

Even so, the nation remains split. Although Obama won the electoral vote, the popular vote is relatively even. Obama did not receive a mandate.

So what is going to happen? We’ll know very soon, with the upcoming lame duck session of Congress, where the president, lawmakers and the public will face massive challenges and consequences.

Obama does not have to worry about being re-elected or holding onto his base of supporters. He has been campaigning for a second term almost from the first day he moved into the White House. Most every decision was based on how it would play with voters and get him re-elected.

Hopefully, his attention now will be focused on what is best for the country rather than what is best for his political popularity.