I Was There
Pre-Show Cocktails
This post has had several false starts as I attempted to record the 4 days that comprised my own personal inauguration experience learning something about myself as a writer: that I have to be through something in order to put an experience into some kind of context.
In the few sober moments I had Monday before the ball, even I had some concerns about making the trip into DC for the swearing- in ceremony. It’s one thing to intellectually know that 2 Million people were predicted to swarm the Mall to see Aretha Franklin’s hat (oh, had we known!) but it’s another to see the streets that you drive on closed to all traffic, metro stops that you use as part of your daily life, over capacity and realize that once you make the commitment to be there, there is no turning back.
I don’t know whether to give credit to the media, to Washington Metro Transit Authority or to the event organizers, but the details surrounding the inauguration were such that we knew that the Metro train system, at full capacity can only move 120,000 people an hour. 2 Million Relying on those trains? Even I can do that math.
We jumped on a bus that ran from my neighborhood directly into the city and by 8:00 am we were nestled on the lawn directly in front of the Washington Monument. Our sustenance? Two bottles of water, a bag of trail mix and bag of twizzlers. Given my acute hang-over from my bare-foot, girl-get-your-groove-on, moves at the Green Ball the night before, my stomach couldn’t have handled much more than that.
Prior to yesterday, had you asked me about cold, I would have talked about the brutal Nebraska winters and winters in Kansas City. I thought I knew cold.
Then I stood from 8am until 2pm in cold that transcended bone numbing. I’m not sure I can describe it better than that. I was so cold that my brain went to another place to cope.
At the Inauguration
So much of the inauguration is simply getting people to their seats each with their own introduction and there was this moment when the power of standing not just shoulder to shoulder, but breast to back, with the totality of our country’s power seated a few city blocks from where I stood was simply overwhelming. That said, by the time they introduced Nancy Pelosi, the Starbucks Barista from her neighborhood and her 3rd grade art teacher, I was mostly thinking “hey, if this thing wraps up in the next few minutes, I can go get some coffee”.
If you watched the inauguration on TV then you saw George W. Bush announced and saw him take his place in the stands, walking for the last time to Hail to the Chief.
If you were on the Mall, then what you heard were boos, jeers and razzes that obscured the music completely.
And that moment for me, was the reason why I needed to be at the Inauguration in person. Because while the televised coverage was stunning, there are moments that were either under reported, or not reported at all. I thought George W. Bush was an ineffective leader, and a dreadful President but I didn’t boo him yesterday, though I confess to joining in when people started singing “nah, nah, nah, nah, hey, hey, hey, goodbye”.
And for the record, it was Roberts, not Obama who was responsible for the confusion over the oath.
http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2009/01/20/who-screwed-up-the-oath-roberts-or-obama/
After, we moved with the tide of people eventually making our way to the 14th street bridge where we walked in silence to the Pentagon, caught a free bus back to my neighborhood where I finally got a hot cup of coffee.
Walking to the Pentago
Although I voted for Obama, he wasn’t my candidate and I’m still not moved by him as much as I am mindful of what he represents to history. The Inauguration is in my head, but the We Are One Concert is what will stay in my heart.
We Are One
That is what will come to define the scope of the inaugural experience: Where were you on the day America inaugurated the first Black President of the United States?
I love all of the pictures! I thought of you ALL day and wished in small way that I was there with you, that thought was lessened each time I saw the sea of chattering hat wearers. I hate cold, but I love you! Keep up the pleasant contribution to my limited reading time!
I’m glad on one level for the nation, and I’m especially glad for black people in particular about Obama being president. I’m especially glad if him being president results in black people in general believing in themselves more, setting their sights higher in terms of their own personal goals and accomplishment, or if it increases their patriotism and sense of inclusion in this country. I didn’t vote for him and the jury’s obviously still way out on what type of President he’ll be. Like it or not, he’s my president for at least the next 4 years, so I’m hoping he’s successful. But as for me, since you asked, I’m not a crowd person so I was skiing at Snowshoe on the big day, preferring to get out of the DC area and away from the inauguration craziness. From my conversations on chair lifts and in the village there, there were quite a few people there doing the exact same thing.
Btw, my sister-in-law had a very similar experience to yours, I think she was glad to be there from a historical perspective but she hated the fact she had tickets and couldn’t reach her seats, people without tickets were sitting in ticketed areas, she froze, etc. Probably the best inauguration parade experience I heard was from my cousin, the one you met (Louann), who got invited to view the parade at some company right on Pennsylvania Ave, so she sat in heated comfort on the balcony with food and drinks and bathroom facilities, while the parade went by. She was right at the point where the Obamas got out and walked for a while, she took some great pictures of that part. She always manages to pull this stuff off, ticks me off….
I went back and re-read my inauguration blog and though I’m certainly glad I went, battled the cold and the logistics, I can’t say that the inauguration was something that touched my soul. I felt like I was going through the motions, for the most part although there were some moments that were very powerful to me. I found it difficult to write about because there were observations and feelings I had that I couldn’t express the way I wanted to… and I think my blog post reflects my ambivelence. Republican Dude, you’ll recall that I was never an Obama Girl. He got my vote because I couldn’t bear to see Sarah Palin in the VP spot and, I’m sorry, but I don’t think that John McCain could withstand the riggors of the office. And he got my vote because although I’m increasingly more moderate on certain issues, the Democratic Party ideals are truest to who I am. I can however forsee a time when I re-register as an independent. I agree with your comments about what this time in our history means to black people and seeing that emotion on the Mall was worth the trip. I went to both Bush Inaugurations as well because he was still my President and to live in a city where history is made every day and not take advantage of those privledges is eggregious. But after we spent over 150 million dollars on the Obama inauguration, brought the metro DC area to a complete standstill for more than a week, this guy has to wake up and do the job he was hired to do and advance the issues of the platform for which he was elected. To quote Mr. Quantico, “how does a guy who’s only been in office one day have a 70% approval rating?” How much of Obama is hype vs. substance? Or does it matter because we are, as a nation, so overwrought with burdens from 8 years of negligent policy that we are desperately clinging to ObamaHope as a misguided Messiah?
Hi Jennifer,I enjoyed your update. I agree with you that much remains to be seen regarding what type of president Obama will be. I think the reason that he’s got (it’s over 80%) approval rating, is that people are hopeful that he’ll bring much needed change to the way our Government works. They have seen a leader that is willing and able to tackle the hard issues; and one that seems really capable. Obviously he is just getting started, so I’m not suggesting he is a miracle worker and will do everything he wants to do (what president has ever been able to do that?), but we are ready to move on. As for GWB, I felt sad for him. I truly believe that any man willing to take on the resposibility of being president really does believe they can do that job, and do it well. Unfortunately he breached a lot of the people’s trust with the way he handled his failures. I wish him well, but I’m glad we won’t be having steering our ship again.As for Obama, I really hope he lives up to the hype. It’s going to be very difficult. Unless people really get what he was trying to say; that it’s OUR collective responsibility, they are going to be disappointed.My 2 cents.
About inaugural day. It is this: A black person is in the white house. And it happened IN MY LIFETIME. The thing I wrote in JavaJ had to do with people in your age group being unable to really understand the awe this inspires. The Black Baby Boomers really get it. You see, back in the 60′s all of our protesting, marches, folk music, all of it, was about trying to make changes. And then we grew up and many of us betrayed those values, embracing instead the values of our parents, forgetting the message. The civil rights activists never forgot, never gave up. And even if you didn’t always agree with the message and method, they kept at it. And this miracle happened NOW. Not 8 years from now when I might be dead, or in 20 years when I hope we are all truly Color Blind and take that for granted. I wanted a woman to break the presidential barrier. It was not her time. It is Obama’s time.
I am so glad for the optimism that comes from possibilities. Instead of writing Obama off as someone who made 500-some promises during his campaign that will be impossible to keep, let’s imagine the kind of world we could have in a few years if he keeps half of those promises.
In micro, let’s imagine the amount of negative energy that signing the order to close Guantanamo has eliminated. Let’s imagine those men who will not suffer water boarding. Let’s imagine the joy in a family where a wrongly held detainee comes home against all odds. Not a bad day’s work, huh?
I just wanted to share this with you, Jennifer because I have generally been the ultimate cynic. I will just enjoy this time and remember those people in the Islands who sang a joyful song for a president of a country they will never visit!
I am proud you were there for the inauguration. I watched from a warm spot on my couch, but a part of me was there with you. Just like I always am.
My earlier comment was cut and super glued into Java Jennifer by Java J herself from an email I sent because for some reason the original got lost in translation. I hit “submit” and the original ended up in Java Elsewhere. Of Java Nowhere. Anyway, the email actually began: I had something to say… And the “thing I wrote in Java J” was in reference to this long winded thing I wrote that is really much longer than the original. Well.