I was at lunch today with an old Washingtonian. She is someone who had a big impact on politics in the ’80s and well into the ’90s, as a female pioneer and a staffer in the Senate. I have no doubt from her stories that she totally kicked ass…which I totally, completely respect.

But today, I mentioned a way the new generation was kicking ass. And her look was of total disgust — which I took as a complete compliment.

In the days after the election, new media leaders like Jim Gilliam of Brave New Films, have created Web portals for voters to continue their civic engagement. Sites like Change.Org and WhiteHouse2.Org are modern social voting tools - that allow interested users to rank the policy issues that matter most. With that, some raise to the top, others fall, and eventually will disclose a microcosm of what voters want.

These two sites act almost like social bookmarking sites such as DIGG and Technorati. While it may sound crazy… there are some real players creating and partnering in these initiatives.  Will social networking change the world? Who knows. But as Howard Dean said,

“The Internet is the most important tool for redemocratizing the world since Gutenberg invented the printing press.”

Who knows how far this will go - for good and for bad. We will have to wait and see how far the Millennials, with the help of Obama and his leadership, take it. But from my perspective, the future couldn’t look brighter.