Hi. Michael McGrorty and I and Eli sat around talking politics in Los Angeles this past weekend. While I think the current administration will be marginally worse for libraries [and much worse for people] than the alternative, let's just rememebr that all John Kerry said about libraries in his big suck-up-to-everyone speech at the DNC was about putting one on a chip. Don't get me wrong, I feel bad for everyone who feels bad this week, but let's not act like the Great White Hope just walked out the door on us. The decline of libraries and funding for libraries in the US didn't start with Bush and while I suspect it won't end with Bush, I'd argue that it wouldn't have ended with Kerry either. Americans are changing their mind about how they feel about the public good, about sharing, and about other people in general. This election didn't cement that, it reflects that. So does the decline of libraries. Let's get started now, shall we, fixing it?