Inauguration Thoughts

Some rambling thoughts on my trip to the Inauguration
≠≠Sunday:
8:00pm – We get in from Miami about 1.5 hours late. Weird. Airport is mobbed so we rush for a cab expecting a huge wait. Nothing. We get in; zoom from Dulles to the heart of D.C. with zero traffic and in record time. Staying at the Holiday Inn. OK I’m a snob. But it is so in the heart of things. Everyone, from the staff to guests is just overjoyed. I’ve been in places that were happy (burning man, certain concerts, parties). But never a whole city with the same vibe. – Everyone is celebrating – guests, hotel clerks, bus drivers, people on the street.

10pm – We meet Eddie and a various SF people who have gathered in town. Lot’s of people who worked on the campaign or not. Regardless, people are swapping stories, sharing hopes for the future. Very festive. Lots of people on the town on Sunday in D.C., which I assume is rare.

1:30am. So it turns out that Metro closes at midnight not 2am as we were told at the hotel, so we have to walk back. Very cold but not horrible. Angela finds it invigorating, I find it, just cold.. We through the mall and see the Wash Momentum and Capital building shining at night. I never remember them being this bright. Angela and I jump around and feel the awe and splendor of the Capital.

8:00Am. We get up. Another night without sleep. Gather my mother her friends to go get our tickets. Most are 70 year plus and lifetime party activists. All Clinton supporters, but all jazzed. You think we’ve been waiting for a long time to be inspired? They’ve been waiting since Kennedy. They have more energy and commitment and a room full of Move.on activists. And they keeping the party do the hard work of keeping the party together through good and bad. . . They get good seats and ball tickets – and deserve it.

10AM. I’ve got a conference call with Europe. It’s goes an hour because we spend the first 30 minutes talking about Obama. These Europeans are just as excited as we are – talking about how they were crying on election night just like we were. We are the world? Get dressed and go for my Obama SF t-shirt. Turns out I grabbed my Red Sox World Series shirt instead. Exact same colors – I swear. This means that every Masshole in D.C. has to talk to me. Fucking sox.

11:00 – I walk over the to Capital where Angela mom and friends have secured out tickets. Angela’s been palling around with the one family friend who’s not 70. Turns out he knew my dad who helped him out of checking kiting scheme. Classic. Almost no lines. We meet at the Russell Senate Building. Short security line to get in. Take lots of pictures in the hall of the senate, then we head down to the basement to eat at the Senate cafeteria. Of course there is nothing special about the Senate cafeteria. But it feels special – everything feels special. When we leave, lines around the block.

2:00pm: We head over to RFK stadium for a public service event. The walk from the Metro to the stadium is basically a flea market with only Obama stuff. I didn’t see Obama TP, but that’s all that’s missing. We are putting together 75,000 care packages for the troops. Nice idea – way too many people. Like an old public works project – dig a whole and then fill it in. Way more would have been done with 10% of the people. That being said, people recognize that they have to stay involved and as a symbol of their commitment it works well. I heard that overall the number of volunteers across the country was way up and the Peace core had its biggest recruitment day ever.

8:30. I meet with family, while Angela heads over to the NetRoots party. She sees half of san-francisco, including James girlfriend – who ends up crashing the most a-list party in town (Huffington). She comes home at 1 just having caught the last metro train, which still stops at midnight. (You can’t get a cab to our hotel – the whole area is blocked off)

Tuesday.

7AM. We get up. Not wake up – we’ve been up all night. THIS IS THE BIG DAY! We can barely stand it. I go down to the lobby to “grab a quick coffee.” No luck. Everyone in the world is in the lobby.
8:15 Angela, my mom, Mary and I head off. Total madness. There is almost no instructions on where to go. A few volunteers and security milling around, but nobody knows anything. We head off, fight through the crowd - f in the wrong direction. Then fight back in the right direction. People heading in every direction. Mary, it turns out, can move through a crowd, and leads the way.

8:45 We somehow get to the blue gate, which is designed to let people in incredibly slowly. The line is around the block. Mary makes an executive decision – we cut the line. I mean just blatantly cut. (Turns out there was a better way to cut that I’m mad I didn’t figure out until later). We wait and wait in the cold. We barely move – seriously. By 10:45 the gates have been open 3 hours, we’re been in line for 2, and we’ve only moved ½ the distance. Inauguration at 12, and I’m thinking we’re not getting there. I’ve got a radio, and all I hear what a great mood everyone’s in despite the lines. Frankly, people I’m with are getting pretty pissed. Shouts of “let us in” can be heard.

By the way, it is damn cold. My hands would be freezing off but for the hand warmer chemical cocktail that I bought at CVS. My feet are killing me and I wish I had put those hand warmers in my sneakers. I convince myself that that the fact that my toes hurt means that they’re not frost bitten.

11:30. As we get close to the gate, things move quickly and we get through. We run to capital and get there a few minutes later. Get pretty good place on some stairs and can see pretty well through our binoculars (at-least we can see the jumbotron well). Once you’re in, the good mood returns. Some guy on the wall in front is volunteering to take pictures. People are laughing, swapping stories. A genuine love in.

11:45: The important people are starting to arrive on the stage. The feeling is electric. People cheer (OK scream) when they walk out and when they’re announced. Pelosi, Feinstein, and Reid receive big pop. Clintons? People go nuts. Michele and girls – people loose it.
11:50 – We all know what’s next. People are fidgeting, crying. The expectation is over whelming. I keep hearing Ed Sullivan saying “Ladies and Gentleman - The Beatles!” Actually, the analogy is not far off. The Beatles succeeded based on phenomenal talent, but the nation was primed, ready to break with the past. What people lacked was a vision of what that next step looked like. Turns out, the future looked like the Beatles. Obama walks out the door and just stands there. It’s Kennedy and Beatles in one. People loose it. Obama’s announced – the future just walked on stage.
11:55. Warren gives his invocation. About as ecumenical as you’re going to get from an evangelical. Starts with a quote from the Hebrew scriptures – the SHMA no less (central tenant of Jewish practice). Talks about service, when he says Jesus (in many languages), he clearly prays for himself, not others.
12:04. the botched swearing in. I originally thought the sound system went out for a second.
12:15. The speech. A little hard to hear with all the different speakers echoing, plus cops tell us to move from the stairs – after being there for an hour. That being said, have you ever hear 1.5 million people shut up at once? The same crowd that booed Bush and Chaney and sang “nah, nah, nah, hey, hey, good bye” Obama holds everyone.

After the speech people start leaving. The Bush is leaving via helicopter. When people realize it they start cheering. The copter is right over our heads – and low. I swear I could have hit it with a baseball. If the copter broke down, it would fall right on top of us. My mother was at Clinton’s first and she says the only thing she remembers is Bush I taking off. Nice symmetry.


We make our way against the current to the senate Building for a reception with Kerry/Kennedy. There not there, as turns out, b/c of the whole seizure thing. Bored, Angela and I take off.

1:30. City’s still cut up so even walking home is a challenge. We go through a tunnel that cuts across the mall. Have to get out of the way, while ambulances go bye. Turns out it was Kennedy. We get various scenes of the parade. Inauguration

2:30 Finally get home. Our hotel is one of the closest to the parade and everyone wants to use the lobby. Only lucky guests of the holiday get in. Watch CNN/MSNBC non-stop. Watch the speech again. It’s brilliant. He ditched the teary eyed stuff. (Catch his Philly speech for that). What he presents is a clear eyed sustained critique of the political dialectic of the past 30 years. The choices we’ve been presented by the left and right were presented as false choices. (big gov v. small; free market v. government control; security v. freedom). With Bush there, it seemed like a critique of him. It was, but the left is equally as guilty of simplifying the world through it’s own prism. The arguments were ultimately childish distractions that kept us from getting the job done.

Where we will find the moral guidance once our false dichotomy is gone? From the values of our nation’s founding. Obama cited Washington not Lincoln, which surprised people. Obama was channeling Lincoln but just didn’t mention his name. Obama followed the structure and arguments Lincoln used in his first major anti slavery speech against Douglas. Clocking in at over 3 hours, Lincoln did not use narrow constitutional law or “higher law” as some did to attach slavery as others had done. Instead he called slavery as inconsistent with purpose of the founding. Yet, he refused to demonize, saying that if Northerners were born in the South they would support slavery as well. The speech, praised by supporters and opponents alike, set Lincoln on the course to the Presidency and healed a nation. What both Lincoln and Obama did was use the founder's words to transend the politics of the day.

10:00. With no ball tickets (a drag), we meet Eddie for dinner and Adams’ Morgan. Really dead, but by the time we leave ball goers are returning home. We get home at 1pm for our nightly 4 hours of sleep. Really wish I was more aggressive on the ball ticket. Why I’m not sure. But I think we all new the real world was right around the corner and wanted to stay in the warmth of the Obama bubble that much longer.

Wed. 5AM. We’re up again and off to the airport. Way earlier than we need to be but who knew.

6Am dulles. I notice someone staring at us. Actually laughing at Angela with matching Obama hat and scarf. I call out – “you like the hat?” We start chatting with the woman – It’s Jamie Lee Curtis. She’s chatty and trying to be normal but doesn’t actually seem to know how to go through the airport. No worries, the TSA does everything for her. (yes this is a strange ending).

8AM - Flying into Canada. For years, I’ve always thought of Canada as kinder gentler U.S. Maybe it’s a true (or not) as ever. But it doesn’t feel that way that way now. Can a country change in 24 hours?

11Am Watching Canadian news from Toronto. Not quite the all Obama fest of CNN but O’s the lead the story. If you didn’t know better you’d think he’d was Prime Minster.
10:30. Sleep.

Thursday
Dinner with Canadian colleges. For the first time in years, I don’t have to apologize for being an American. They want a new America as much as we do. For once, we get what we want.

1.23.08 David
Keep Active