It still seems surreal! One year ago today, the rest of the world watched as America elected the first African American president. From the recession to healthcare, the car industry to political appointments — its been one tough year. We’re taking you back down memory lane with our video coverage of the historic events but we want to hear from you!

What has changed since we’ve elected President Obama? What does his one year in office mean to you?

Republican National Comittee Chairman Michael Steele will be sitting down this weekend with Roland Martin to dicuss his party’s big wins in some key local races. Steele, who was named the first African American RNC head during the same year that President Barack Obama was elected, has been very critical of the administration and has said that Pres. Obama is “bankrupting the country.”

Here’s your chance to get your questions directly to him. If you want Michael Steele to hear you submit your comment below and be sure to add your city/state to ensure we see your comment.

Need to know more about Steele? Here’s video of him speaking earlier this year where he addressed fellow Republicans on how to take on the president.

Last night, Republicans saw new life in their party as they found wins with new governors in Virginai and New Jersey.

Bob McDonnell beat out Democrat Creigh Deeds to become Virginia’s first Republican governor in 12 years. The state is also likely to elect a republican to Lietenant governor and attorney general.

In New Jersey, typically a democrat-leaning state, Republican Chris Christie won over the incumbent democratic governor Jon Corzine.

In New York, however, Democrat Bill Owens won that state’s congressional seat — a first since before the civil war.

Despite an historical trend of presidential party losing local elections a year after elected,, RNC chairman Michael Steele called the Republican sees the wins as being a referendum on the Obama administration.

According to an article on NJ.com, Steele had this to say in regards to the election results:

“This race tonight, his election tonight, sends a very strong message throughout the country that change we thought we were getting, we’re going to show you the kind of change we want.”

TELL US: Do you think the Republican wins are a sign that people are unhappy with the Obama administration?

Image courtesy of Associated Press

Today is the day that’ll have Washington watching the rest of us. With several states voting for governors and mayors today, the White House will be watching to see which way the voters are swaying. Is America still pro-Democrats or are we beginning to lean back?

We’ve talked about this before. Is President Obama really responsible for his party losses? While a recent CNN.com poll suggests that 53% of Americans still approve of the job that President Obama is doing, that isn’t enough to stop the critics from suggesting that possible losses today are results of American’s growing tired and frustrated with the Obama administration. Whether President Obama is responsible or not, Democrats shouldn’t get too comfortable—the Republicans are waiting for their chance to hit back and hard.

Keep your eyes on the Governor races in Virginia and New Jersey, as well as the Mayorial races in New York, Atlanta and Boston.

America is into trends and could be looking for another change, already. What do you think?

Click here to download the transcript for the show airing November 1, 2009.

Guests:

Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

Danny Bakewell, publisher, Los Angeles Sentinel and chairman of the National Newspaper Publishers Association

Cornell Belcher, Democratic strategist and pollster

Sophia Nelson, commentator and contributing writer to theroot.com, Huffington Post and essence.com

April Ryan, White House correspondent, American Urban Radio Networks

Nia-Malika Henderson, White House reporter, Politico

Smokey Fontaine, News One/Interactive One Chief Content Officer