In a New Climate, Former Weatherman Bill Ayers Speaks

Ayers has three book projects in the works -- a reissue of his antiwar memoir, "Fugitive Days"; a new work called "City Kids, City Schools," which he edited; and the forthcoming "Race Course: Against White Supremacy," a memoir with Dohrn of "our experience in the black freedom movement," he said.

The evening's crowd was a mix of teachers and education advocates who wanted to hear education theory -- and Ayers delivered -- and political activists and Obama supporters who wanted him to dish about being the designated campaign boogeyman -- and Ayers obliged.

Outside the church, a handful of protesters waved signs against Ayers, but inside it was all love and admiration.

"He's mellowed," but in a good way, said Aviva Kempner, the Washington documentary maker, who covered "Billy" Ayers as a student journalist at the University of Michigan in the late 1960s. Even back then, Ayers was first a teacher, working in a community school. "He had the best political button I've ever seen: 'Kids Are Only Newer People,' " Kempner recalled.

Ayers told both audiences that he had been in Grant Park celebrating with the crowd on the night of Obama's victory. He said the vibe in most large crowds is edged with anger or alcohol, but this crowd "was all joy, all unity, all hope."

However, he added, "I don't for a minute want to harsh anybody's mellow," but "no president takes us to the promised land."

That's up to the people themselves, getting engaged. Take it from an ex-Weatherman. "We have to ask ourselves: Yes we can -- what?"