A Republican in King Obama's court; J.C. Watts celebrates too

The Times' Michelle Maltais caught up with a real, live Republican on Monday night at the celebration of President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration today in Washington.

J.C. Watts, a former Republican congressman from Oklahoma, tells Michelle candidly that on Nov. 4 "the earth moved" with the election of Obama.

The future is hard to predict, he says, but the onetime college football star is hopeful that the past Washington tone of each political party being dedicated to the political destruction of the other will have an opportunity to change.

And he thinks Obama has the temperament to accomplish that. Check out Watts' thoughts below in his own words.

-- Andrew Malcolm

Speaking of political tone, we'll have coverage of the real Obama inauguration and the new administration right here every day. Register here for cellphone alerts on each new Ticket item. RSS feeds are also available here. And we're now on Amazon's Kindle as well.

Ticket video: Michelle Maltais / Los Angeles Times