If Barack Obama were rushing a sorority, he would be the number one recruit. First impressions are his specialty, flirting with girls is in his blood and keeping a smile plastered on his face in the most awkward of situations is a talent he possesses. While changing into four-inch heels in negative eight degree weather and sprinting up Libe Slope may not be his cup of tea, I am confident that Obama’s daily morning workouts would prepare him to be first in line for each and every house.

WASHINGTON D.C. — Hundreds of thousands of people of all ages and backgrounds flooded D.C. this weekend, soaking up the energetic atmosphere and preparing to play a part in history.

On the eve of Barack Obama’s inauguration, the streets were already buzzing, despite frigid temperatures in the 20s.

“It’s hot. It’s not cold out here, it’s hot,” said Anthony Brown, a photographer for the police department. “It’s a beautiful moment, a beautiful day in history right here.”

President-elect Barack Obama will take the oath of office at noon today. We rejoice because we have finally found ourselves on the winning side of history, when in the past we could only console ourselves with being on the right side of history. We have shoved defeat down the throat of victory. When I say “we,” I do not mean a particular group but desire for you to read the “we” however you see fit, from Democrats to Africans-Americans to young people. The glory of this victory does not belong to one group alone, one party alone, one race alone, one age group alone or even one political party alone but to all of us who labored when it seemed like a pipe dream, to all of us who put bitterness of the primaries behind us to move forward.

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First and foremost, I’m feeling good right about now — presidential almost. It didn’t really set in until I talked to my mother Tuesday night. I haven’t heard my mother that joyous in a while, if ever. Even if Barack Obama doesn’t work out how everybody hopes and assumes he will, his election means so much in terms of how far we have come as African Americans and as America as a whole.

And for that alone, Tuesday was a great day in America.

But seeing as this is on the other side of the newspaper — which is the better side — I have to keep this column sports-related.

By Greg Demers

As independent voters ready themselves for tomorrow’s election, they will inevitably flock to the websites of Barack Obama and John McCain to pin down the differences between the candidates and, hopefully, help solidify their decisions. While the vast majority of topics on these sites overlap, there is one issue that is strikingly absent from Barack Obama’s website: judicial philosophy.

DENVER (AP) -- Barack Obama and John McCain agree on this much: The economy is staggering under the Bush administration, and Americans are hurting. But who's to blame and how best to fix it?

Well, they part ways on that, as they made clear in dueling economic speeches Monday on the issue that has taken center stage in their presidential contest.

Obama said that McCain offers "exactly what George Bush has done for the last eight years."

"The progress we made during the 1990s was quickly reversed by an administration with a single philosophy that is as old as it is misguided: reward not work, not success, but pure wealth," Obama said. Grounded by plane trouble in St. Louis, he phoned his remarks to a gathering in Charlotte, N.C.