The times they are a'changing, thankfully

This was 2004.

Let me put it to you this way: I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it. It is my style.


This is 2008.

President-elect Barack Obama called his former Republican presidential rival, Sen. John McCain, a hero at a bipartisan dinner Monday night and encouraged politicians to reach across the aisle.

"I could stand here and recite the long list of John's bipartisan accomplishments ..." Obama said.

"Campaign finance reform. Immigration. The Patients' Bill of Rights. All those times he has crossed the aisle and risked the ire of his party for the good of his country. And yet, what makes John such a rare and courageous public servant is not the accomplishments themselves, but the true motivation behind them."

After praising McCain, Obama urged everyone to take the bipartisan dinner past "just an inaugural tradition" and turn it into a "new way of doing the people's business in this city."

"We will not always agree on everything in the months to come, and we will have our share of arguments and debates," Obama said. "But let us strive always to find that common ground, and to defend together those common ideals, for it is the only way we can meet the very big and very serious challenges that we face right now."

"The energy on the streets is something I've never seen before," said Nancy Wigal, who lives in Vernon Square. "People are walking lighter, standing taller and are reaching out to one another. It feels like hope. It feels like shared happiness."

Wigal said Obama's inauguration has given residents hope that change actually will happen.

"It's all because of Obama -- we dare to feel positive that we may have actually elected a leader, not just a politician," she said. "There are impromptu progressive dinner parties, cookouts and house parties. We finally feel like a real change has come to town."

YAY!!!!!