More Views from Hyde Park

While we're talking about reactions in the neighborhood, another notable Hyde Parker, the controversial Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam, has come out in praise of President-Elect Obama. He never endorsed Obama during the campaign and his endorsement was never sought out either.

As for Professor William Ayers, he cast his ballot on November 4th at the same polling place that Obama himself did. He said, "I think my relationship with Obama was probably like thousands of others in Chicago. And, like millions and millions of others, I wish I knew him better."

The View from Hyde Park

The University of Chicago's student newspaper, The Maroon, interviewed faculty and ex-students of President-Elect Barack Obama's to get their perspectives on what he would bring to the presidency. Interestingly, while journalists such as Fareed Zakaria expect his presidency to look like that of Franklin D. Roosevelt, more than one of the UChicago interviewees draws comparisons to Woodrow Wilson.

I think that Saul Levmore, Dean of the Law School, captures most Hyde Parkers' sentiments when he says, "It feels nice. This is how it must be in a small country, where everybody knows everybody. It has a homey democratic feeling to it…. It doesn’t feel remote, the usual way politics feels with someone off on another planet".

We still have a little bit of that post-election euphoria here. People are still walking around with smiles on their faces and nodding to each other. A guy on the train last night gave me and D. a broad grin and a nod, and I thought that was a little unusual (yes, Chicagoans are friendly, but not on the El). Then I realized that I still had an Obama '08 button on my jacket.