Ups
- The swearing-in ceremony. Short, sweet, historical, and best of all, no more Bush! The audio was muddled so I didn't quite catch the oath of office snafu, but I did breathe a collective sigh of relief with millions of other Americans at knowing our country is in the hands of a different leadership.
- The opening of the "We Are One" Inaugural concert with Springsteen singing "The Rising." I always kind of liked this song, although I don't think it (and the album to which it lends its title) is really considered top Springsteen material. However, taking into consideration that the song was inspired by September 11th, the choice of the "The Rising"--in combination with its fire imagery and the accompanying gospel choir decked out in red--evoked an image of America the Phoenix rising from the ashes of the Bush days.- My brisk walk home after the inauguration. After trying to exit the Mall to the north, I eventually gave up due to the crowds. Then I headed south from the Washington monument until I hit I-395, which was closed to traffic. So began the walk of a lifetime....Since I was familiar with the route, which I use on weekend roadtrips, I decided to take 395 all the way to its terminus at New York Avenue and continue on to my house. On the way, I experienced a scene out of a zombie movie as crowds of people swarmed into the tunnels searching for a way out of the city center.
In-Betweens
- Alas, I'm putting Obama's inaugural speech in this category. After all the hype and comparisons to Lincoln, FDR, and Kennedy I expected Obama's speech to leave something for posterity, a quote that would live on alongside "We have nothing to fear..." and "Ask not...." Listening to the speech I found little substance, although I was moved by his promise that America is "ready to lead once more."
- I found the invocation given by New Hampshire clergyman Gene Robinson at Sunday's concert and the one given by Rev. Rick Warren to be strikingly different. Putting aside the hubbub about the preachers' differing views on homosexuality, the former struck me as what a prayer at a governmental event should be--appealing to those qualities we know live within us, although sometimes we fail to achieve them--as opposed to Warren's, which called upon God to solve our own problems. In Robinson's speech, however, I did find comedy in the fact that he followed up "our new president is a human being, not a messiah" with "And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack." As for Warren's, I of course noted his inclusion of the Sh'ma, the Jews' holiest prayer, which for some reason alienated me almost as much as his appeal to "the one who changed my life, Yeshua, Isa, Jesus, Jesús." It's a reflection of narrow-mindedness that he interpreted "diversity" as naming Jesus in a few languages, and limiting himself to Judeo-Christian beliefs. On the other hand, at a time like this it's important to note that roughly 79 percent of Americans consider themselves to be Christian, which seemed to be borne out by the large number of people around me who joined in to recite the Lord's Prayer.
- Seeing Bush walk out was a mixed bag. Although I'm glad that idiot is finally out of the White House, I did find it rather disrespectful that many in the crowd started booing him (although they may have been chanting "boo-ush," I'm not sure). To me, it brought back the image of Republicans booing Obama during McCain's concession speech, even as McCain tried, characteristically, to get them to stop. Few seemed to agree with my philosophy at Tuesday's inauguration, except for one bystander who chided the booers, shaking his head and muttering:
"Come on now. You gotta respect the position!" Maybe we all need to find a little McCain inside of ourselves.- Although I attended the inauguration alone, at least there were more than 1 million other people there with me!
Downs
- My trek to the Mall on Tuesday morning was an exercise in futility, although it did reveal good results in the end. I took the metro at first to Chinatown, only to find the Mall was blocked from the north, due to the security blockade around Pennsylvania Avenue--the inaugural parade route. "The only way to get there is to walk around or go under," one official told me. "Okay, so what's the best way to get to the Washington monument?" I asked in response. "I'm from California," she said, "how should I know?" So I hopped on the metro again and took it south to L'Enfant plaza, where I de-trained only to find the station's exits clogged with bodies, which meant people were waiting as far back as the train platform to get above ground. I felt trapped and overwhelmed at the thought that I couldn't even get out if I wanted to. Eventually I went out the less-crowded back exit, and once above ground, diverged from the crowd as soon as possible. Thus I made my way to the Southwest waterfront and followed that up to the Washington monument to claim my place in history.
- On my way home, I resolved to buy some Obama buttons for posterity, to have something (along with this blog posting) to prove to my kids that I was there. At a neighborhood church on the corner on New York Ave and 4th Street NW, I bought three buttons with Obama's face on them, but at an exorbitant price. Ten dollars for three small pieces of history...that's American entrepreneurship at work! Oh well, at least I steered clear of the Obama commemorative plate!
1 comment:
Yes, but didn't you consider that someone else in the family might want a commemorative plate? I know I could buy one online, but there's nothing like getting one on site. And I need it to put beside my Elvis Presley plate.
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