....with joy and relief, as I looked out on the crowds in Grant Park
celebrating the election of our new president. So many people -- young
and old, black and white, had tears running down their faces

Obama's speech was just like him -- direct, simple, eloquent,
and quintessentially American. He called us to work for the common
good -- not to go shopping.

The "relief" I felt comes partly from lifting the terrible fear that
hung over me for so long: That the next president would appoint
Supreme Court justices who would send our beloved country
even further down the road to a quasi-totalitarian state ruled --
as it has been for the last eight years -- by unchecked corporate
greed unmatched in my (long) voting memory.

Now, Justice Stevens, at 88, may feel it safe to retire,
and Justice Souter may leave the Court where he has
not lately been too happy. The cabal of Scalia, Thomas,
Alito and Roberts will be on the OTHER side of the 5-4
decisions that have so cynically sold us out on every
aspect of our lives.

People don't often stop and think how directly their lives
are affected by the Supreme Court's decisions.

Now we have hope that our new President, governing
from the center, will nominate centrist Justices who
don't cynically interpret the Constitution for the
benefit of religious fanatics, corporate thieves
and anti-environmental hatchetmen.

Obama - You're going to need all the luck in the world,
bringing together a divided nation

"The Audacity of Hope" -- he was already looking far, far ahead.