With Barack Obama’s inauguration, there is great hope and great expectations that he will be one of the great presidents.

Most historians recognize three presidents as America’s greatest. They are George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Washington defined what the presidency could be and would be. As general, he had led the American colonies successfully in their war against Great Britain, which was then the world’s superpower. He presided over the Constitutional Convention that created the United States’ form of government as well as the presidency which was modeled for him. As president, he shaped the office further and established the precedent that a president does not serve for life.

Lincoln came into office as the Southern states were seceding from the Union. Through perseverance, eloquence, brilliance, political acumen, and a willingness to bend everything from generals to the Constitution to ending slavery to his will of preserving the Union, Lincoln became the emancipator, the victor of the American Civil War, and ultimately a martyr for his beliefs in the nation.

FDR led the nation out of the Great Depression and through World War II. Winning four elections, though dying early in his fourth term, Roosevelt served longer than any other president. He led the nation with optimism in pessimistic times.

Obama takes office with the nation in the grip of a severe economic crisis, rising unemployment, a tarnished international image, and involvement in two wars. His challenges are many, but with a combination of his campaign of hope and change, as well as his automatically historic place as the nation’s first black president, the public’s expectations for Obama are high.

Perhaps, too high. At least for one man.

The nation’s predicament was too unstable in its early days for one man. The nation’s splintering was too much for one man in the Civil War. The Great Depression and World War II were too great for one man. Yet, each of these crises brought one man to the fore: Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt.

It was not simply their efforts that made them great. It was the efforts of Americans in these times of crises that made each of these men one of the nation’s great presidents. It was the American people’s willingness to answer a call, to sacrifice in some cases everything, that defined the greatness in which we shroud Washington, Lincoln and FDR.

What would FDR’s greatness be if Americans did not strive during the Depression and fight on foreign shores during World War II? What would Lincoln’s greatness be if Americans were not willing to fight for their own American lands, American cultures, and American families? What would Washington’s greatness be if Americans did not place their faith in him that he would not become a monarch, that he was a representative of, by and for the people?

For each era of a great American president was a generation of great Americans. So far, throughout the nation’s history, in each American’s lifetime is an opportunity to experience not only a great American president but a great American people.

If Barack Obama is to be one of our great presidents, the American people must be prepared to demonstrate their greatness through hard work, sacrifice, commitment and determination.

If we wish Obama to be one of the greats, we must be willing to sacrifice, strive and persevere. For Obama to be one of the greats, we must be great.