Bravo.

Lying, gutless, stupid (bail-out) criminal Congress to work with .....

Having a president we can trust. One who not only speaks in intelligible sentences, but who is a true statesman. A president who inspires respect, hope, and unity. Who was elected by clear majority of THE PEOPLE, not by technicalities, faulty ballots, a bad court decision and a "college" left over from the times when it was OK for some people to own other people. (Al Gore won the popular vote in 2000).

Thanks, GK, for telling those of us who couldn't go what it was like. I watched on a tiny B&W TV at lunchtime with a coworker, so we got the high points.

Election night was wonderful; today was even better.

It's often played at New Orleans jazz funerals, coming back from the cemetery, and I'm sorry, but it keeps going through my head, as Bush - a pretty damn small man already - gets smaller still. How one inconsequential man could cause so much ill consequence is a matter for Nobel physicists, not just historians. Just proves that one person CAN make a difference.

And I know the one I want to make a difference now.

Mark Twain couldn't be there, so Garrison Keillor went. A fair trade. From on high, Huck Finn looked on approvingly from his perch on the left hand of God; Jim the slave flanked him on the right. And Aunt Polly looked on in amazement.

Well done for just getting on the plane. Thanks for taking us with you.

Watching it on t.v. is just that. Watching.

In the words of Walter Cronkite, "You were there."

You saw the shift, felt it in your feet, breathed it in. Wow.

"One man" didn't and couldn't do it.

Bush still had massive support in 2004.

It wasn't "one man" ...... it took a nation ...... an ignorant passive public and a kowtowing Congress.

Thank you Garrison for reporting from the Mall. On TV we couldn't hear the booing - all 2 million of you (us) just seemed very very quiet and attentive.

And thank you for the way you continued to tell the truth throughout these last (very long) eight years. Too many moving words today to write much more but - thank you.

And all of them feeling good. This is a celebration. The gathering was positive people aching to experience a positive moment in time.

Surely it is a rare and special event in history. May all those who were there cherish the moment and to pass the experience off to their children and grandchildren.

On MSNBC, you could hear the crowd singing, "nah nah nah nah, hey hey, goodbye!" as the helicopter took off. I hope he heard it. I was just sorry there were no shoes thrown at him.

This is a nice observational piece. However, Obama was not “our first genuine Author-President.” If one is limiting it to books Ulysses Grant's Memoirs are highly regarded -- Twain said they were the best war memoirs save those of Caesar. Woodrow Wilson wrote a political science book called Congressional Government. Jefferson was a prolific writer, though from what I've seen mostly about political and legal events of the day. Theodore Roosevelt, among other things, wrote a Naval History of the War of 1812 that was regarded as a serious historical work and a standard reference. He wrote a four-volume history of the frontier titled The Winning of the West, as well as works on naturalism and his own autobiography. John Kennedy is credited with Profiles in Courage, but subsequent examinations of the text show large parts were written by at least two other historians. I think William Howard Taft's court opinions count as much as Obama's entertaining books.

I have read portions of the Jefferson-Adams letters (brilliant men, both) for their views on religion -- here's a source who recounts what Adams wrote otherwise:

"Adams's writings primarily took the form of essays and correspondence. The most famous of his works is A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, a three-volume collection of essays published in 1787. Coupled with Discourses on Davila (1790), which Adams considered to be the fourth volume of the Defence, these essays outline his thinking on the form of government the new nation should adopt. Both works have been the subject of intense critical debate by Adams's contemporaries as well as by modern scholars, and Adams himself felt that his writings were much misunderstood. In retirement, he attempted to clarify some of these misunderstandings by writing his autobiography."

I am sure there were others -- America used to elect smart, capable men to office.

Imagine. We have a president now with whom we might not always agree but who we know is intelligent and thoughtful. What a refreshing change.

As always a pleasure to read Garrison Keillor and FINALLY eight years of hell and destruction turned away as a major league boob got on the chopper and went away.

God bless America for the ability to change and move forward.

"One man" - the wrong man, Bush - in the wrong place can be the gaping door that lets multiple scurrilous agendas - neocon dreams, Cheney-cronysism, corporate greed - stream through unchecked. Another man - for instance, Gore - can work hard to make an unpopular topic a viable concern. Leadership counts, even if it never absolves us of our responsibilities - citizens, Congressmen, Fox Anchors. Leadership (or lack of it).....and location, location, location!

Our world would have been a very different place without this particular Bush at its center for 8 years. We'll never know how different, but it's frankly hard to imagine it would have been worse.

And Thank You, Salon for having posted the innumerable withering, surgical analyses of Bush-Cheney by a man so predominent and self-sufficient in American Media that The MSM/Clear Channel Communications rats couldn't touch him as they did Natalie Mains, Jackson Browne and other outspoken figures who openly stood against the Bush Malignancy.

Keep it up, Garrison. Don't quit now....

Thank you for bringing all of us with you. Your take on every event is always so right on, and unique. THANK YOU and Go'Bamas.