January 23, 2009
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The Inauguration of Barack Obama
NOTE: This post is both on my Xanga site and my smaller blog at Kizyr for Obama.
Last Tuesday, there were more people in Washington than I've ever seen in my life. It was a larger crowd than I've ever seen in my life. And what's more, nearly every single person there in the crowd was happy.
I knew it was a day that'd go down in history, so crowds, cold, and closed metro stations weren't going to stop me from seeing it. My sister flew in from Nashville to see this, and the two of us along with some of my coworkers went into the city to see what we could.
Fortunately, no camping out was necessary. We left around 8AM and, after some reverse-metro rides we managed to get to Gallery Place, walk all the way around the White House and parade route, and find a spot near the Washington Monument. In all, we walked something like 7-8 miles that day (check the route on the left). We managed to get to the Washington Monument in front of one of the jumbotron screens around 11AM, half an hour before Biden's swearing-in. It was quite crowded, but we found a good spot for viewing amidst the 2-million-strong party going on. Take a look at a few shots of the crowd there (click for larger image):
Despite it being a screen, it was definitely worth the trip downtown. All the cheering and the energy was pretty indescribable. It all came to a head when Barack Obama was sworn in...
I also enjoyed the inaugural address (and got a bit emotional when taking in the moment). There are plenty of other places where you can hear the entire address, so I won't waste time with repeating it here.
As I said, both me and my sister were there, and I broke with my usual tradition and stood in some of the photos myself. Also, we figured that if George Bush can have his "W" signal, we can give Obama an "O" signal:
After everything was done, we walked back across Memorial Bridge all the way back to Crystal City. It was tiring, but definitely worth every minute.
And 2 days into the Presidency, Obama is already fulfilling his promises of closing Guantanamo and reversing the previous administration's tacit acceptance of torture. I think this is shaping up to be good already. KF
