"CHANGE WE NEED" ... AT 7TH AND MONTANA

Obama Fever was in the air this morning at 7th and Montana. Everyone, it seemed, was buzzing about last night's historic election results. Newspapers flew off the shelf without any help from the Notorious Newspaper Thief. Barista Keisha gave me the last, remaining copy of The Los Angeles Times (which she had squirreled away for safe keeping in the back room) and Veronica gave me a free cup of coffee. Why all the bonhomie? It's obvious that America is ready for a change. Obama symbolizes that change in so many ways: He's crossed racial boundaries, re-energized our youth and given hope to millions of people who struggle to make ends meet. For me, this election wasn't about black or white. It was about green. Over the last eight years, I've seen hundreds of friends lose their jobs, victims of "outsourcing" as their jobs moved overseas. Pensions have vanished, healthcare coverage has become a joke and the dollar just doesn't buy as much as it used to. It all happened so gradually that, until recently, I never realized that our own government's policies had a hand in it. Obama gave me a badly needed wake-up call and for that, I'm grateful. The free coffee this morning was nice, too ...!