Long Awaited Inauguration Day Report

I finally finished this on the way to Cape Town:

I'm currently southeast of Stephenville, Canada (that's the closest city it shows on the map as we're over the ocean. It's about 2 hours into the flight, and my report on the inauguration is long over due. I'm watching Eagle Eye too so this could take a while but what else have I got to do.

So Tuesday morning after 3 and a half hours of sleep we woke up at 4 a.m. to head to the inauguration. We were out by 4:30 and started walking towards the mall. There was a smattering of people around the GW campus but we seemed to be the early bunch. Then we arrived a couple blocks from the Washington Monument and all of a sudden busses were lined up and crowds of people were walking with us. Marc noted that it was like a scene from a zombie movie, with dead faces all heading towards the spot lights at the Capitol Building.

The police were out in full force but there were no security checkpoints as we expected. I'm sure the police were watching and looking for backpacks or anything suspicious but it seems it was either too early or we were already within the security zone. Either way, we felt pretty safe with the 35,000 police and other security in the city, and snipers lining the rooftops of every building along the mall.

We kept walking towards the capitol thinking that we would encounter the wall of people any second but we got all the way to the first jumbotron on the left of the mall. I had suggested we go to the side because you could go much farther up but we went dead center which ended up obstructing our view of the podium later (with binoculars). It was no real disappointment as this was it and we were there to witness it. It was about being with 1.5 million Americans as we all weathered the cold for 8 hours to witness history and celebrate the moment. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

We put down our blanket, surveyed the scene for a bit, and then sat and huddled. It was cold, and I certainly did as much as I could to bundle up with what I had, but even with four layers and the best long underwear money can buy, I still froze my butt off.

After an hour it was time to hike my way through the quickly building crowd to the bathroom. On the way back, I tripped over the Bennetts who turned out to be sitting just 20 feet behind us, quite a coincidence indeed. When I left the Bennetts I still didn't know where my friends were but just after I left, I heard Marc's voice and made my way back to them. We spent a half hour watching West Wing (it fit the mood) but we were interrupted by the Jumbotrons turning on. It was just announcements at first but we saw that they had already closed the parade route.

Then, they began to play the official concert on the Lincoln Memorial from Sunday night. Marc had gone too it but I did not get in until Monday morning. That really made time fly by and were some of the best moments of the morning such as when 1.5 million people "threw their hands up and shout". Overall, the concert lead to a lot of communal singing and truly made the crowd into a community of 1.5 million rather than just individuals.

The live feed of arrivals to the seated section of the inauguration began after the concert, which served very well as the comedy for the event. Someone made the mistake of leaving what I assume was the podium microphone on which picked up many important people's small talk. All of a sudden the chatter would get louder and distinct and someone would say "my mother really enjoyed your visit the other day". We could not always see who said them though as the cameramen were having a frenzy scoping out celebrities. It was nice when I would say to our group "who's that?" and the woman in front of us answered (every time, she also made sure we all got flags). Some guests like the members of the house of representatives were specifically announced when they walked through the doors, but when there was a possibility of a celebrity arriving by car, they still switched the camera view.

President Bush arrived by Marine One (his helicopter) and as soon as he was shown on screen he was booed. As much as I dislike President Bush, I felt it was just wrong to boo him during his last minutes in office. The staunch republican in our group was of course very pissed. Cheney on the other hand, who was behind almost everything that was wrong with the previous administration, deserved a resounding boo from the crowd so he maybe acknowledged (at least in his head if not out loud) how much he has negatively affected the nation.

When the motorcade was shown driving towards the capitol, you could feel the anticipation of the crowd, everyone waiting for that moment when everyone erupted in cheers. He got out of his car without really anyone seeing, and it wasn't until he walked in the building that the first of many crowd-wide eruptions occured. By that time of course everyone was on their feet and after a few more official introductions, the soon to be President of the United States was introduced and walked down the steps. The yelling and screaming that first met the President-elect when he was first seen was quadrupled as the ground literally shook with the cheers. He took his seat and the ceremony began.

Vice-President Biden's swearing in was met with almost as many cheers as Obama's was moments later (possibly more due to the man who was leaving the office). The excitement electrified the crowd as Obama's swearing-in was next. He took to the stage and put his hand on the bible. The last eight years of misery flashed before the crowd's eyes as a presidency came to a much anticipated end. There was a reaction from the crowd when the Chief Justice caused Obama to repeat the Oath incorrectly, but it could not distract from the real meaning of the moment. I teared up and as I glanced around me there were many wet faces in the crowd (even the staunch republican with us). Then he said his last words and it felt as if a great weight had been lifted off us as we all leapt into the air, hugging anyone in arm's length.

We left after his speech, as the poet began reading. It did us no good though as we still found ourselves stuck at an intersection, literally packed like cattle, without moving for a half hour. After that though, we made it back without much delay.

At night we attended the George Washington University Inaugural Ball. It was in the Omni Shoreham, one of the nicest hotels in D.C. It featured around seven large ballrooms all with different types of music and food. It was a great way to end the day, with a little bit of swing, hip-hop and jazz to finish it off.

Standing there within view of the President taking the oath of office and delivering his inaugural address will stand as one of the greatest moment's of my life and I will certainly never forget it.