Obamarama

January 18-20, 2009. Inauguration weekend, Washington, DC



I’d been tossing around the idea of going down to Washington for the inauguration since Obama won on Nov. 4. We even debated the logistics of such a trip over Christmas dinner. There was really only one “pro,” and it was enticing: witnessing history. As a journalist, I love a good bout of history-in-the-making. The cons, as my cousin started to list them, were also persuasive: standing around in 25ºF weather. Battling humanity for a port-a-potty. Crowds of crazy people. Long lines. Traffic. Parking. Not being able to see anything. Not having a ticket. Port-a-potties (in general).

In the end, comfort lost out to adventure (no surprise there); my brother and I packed up the car with sleeping bags, granola bars and toilet paper and set out for DC. I felt a little bit like we were trucking off to Woodstock – or I imagined so, at least – except the trunk wasn’t full of hallucinogens and tie-dying supplies. Oh well.

Here are some highlights from “Obamarama”:

1. The Sunday pre-inauguration concert: People had arrived on the Mall at 8am to see a free show that started at 2pm. We didn’t realize the mob came out so early, so we sauntered over around 1pm thinking we could get in. Ha! We waited in a line that went nowhere – literally. The end of the line was someone saying, “Concert’s closed,” and turning us away. This was the only example of really bad crowd-herding we saw all weekend, luckily. They had set up Jumbo-trons on the Mall in front of the Washington Monument, so we stood outside and watched the concert there from 2-4pm. The view was pretty impressive: from the monument’s hill, we could look down on the concert at the Lincoln Memorial, which was just a sea of people, camera flashes and flags (oh those flags…it was like all the tiny flags from Memorial Day parades past were finally unleashed. Seriously, what are you supposed to do with those things – bury them? Flush them?). Obama’s status as a rock star was confirmed by the concert’s lineup. Look at this list:

Jack Black, Steve Carell, Rosario Dawson, Jamie Foxx, Tom Hanks, Ashley Judd, Martin Luther King III, Queen Latifah, Laura Linney, Kal Penn, Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, Tiger Woods, Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Jon Bon Jovi, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Renee Fleming, Josh Groban, Herbie Hancock, John Legend, John Mellencamp, Pete Seeger, Shakira, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, U2, Usher, will.i.am, Stevie Wonder

We knew Bruce would be there (“Bruuuuuuce!” The French couple next to us thought we were booing), but Shakira? U2? They’re not even American. And who knew Garth Brooks was a Democrat? He put on the best show of the day – he got 500,000 self-conscious liberals to sing “Shout,” dance around and crouch down on the ground. It was awesome.

2. The only protesters we saw the whole weekend had signs that read: “Homo Sex is a Sin!” My brother Norm thought they read: “Homo Sex is In!” Which would have been much more in the spirit of things.

3. Norm and I wandered the Mall and museums on Monday (MLK Jr Day), and though we saw some impressive exhibits at the National Gallery and Portrait Gallery, we kept getting sidetracked by all these freakin’ pins that were for sale. Pin envy is a wicked, wicked thing. We had to stop at every single pin vendor to find the perfect Obama inauguration pin. Plus, who wouldn’t want a bejeweled Obama beanie 20 years from now? Imagine if you had one that said “Carter in ’76!”? I’d wear that. Obama bobble-heads? Yes, please.

4. The Red/Blue Divide is still alive and well in DC. Exhibit A: A girl who works on the Hill (Republican) returns from an inaugural ball wearing a royal blue dress. She proclaims she’s in her Obama dress, makes a face and downs a shot of vodka. Exhibit B: We debated the stimulus bill…after seven pitchers of beer. Exhibit C: Nearly all of my Republican friends left town for the weekend.

5. Inauguration Day. We were up at 7am, out by 8 and part of the masses as soon as we stepped out the door. It took us about an hour to walk a mile because there were so many people doing the same thing we were doing: flocking to the Mall to snag a free standing-room spot. But if there was ever a pleasant crowd to be a part of, this was it. Everyone was in a good mood. People brought picnics, laid down tarps. A UN of onlookers – black, white, young, old, Indonesian, Californian – patiently hummed along to the concert being replayed on the Jumbo-trons. The elderly African-American lady to my right, out in the cold since 7am and happy as ever, gave me a hug and shouted “Hallelujah!” every time Obama finished a sentence. A twentysomething man dressed as Waldo from “Where’s Waldo” assumed mini-celebrity status and took pictures with the people around him. And I never waited in a line deeper than two people at the port-a-potties, contrary to hysteria that there would never be enough to accommodate the estimated 2 million people out there.

Two million people. We were two in two million, about a mile back from the Capitol, closer to the Washington Monument than the actual podium. And standing just a foot away from me, randomly, was a friend from college I hadn’t seen in two years. She didn’t want to miss this, either.

6. Obama’s speech. I don’t care what anyone says – that was a powerful speech. And the feeling of euphoria started with our first glimpse of Obama on the Jumbo-trons. He stood silently, calmly, chin up a little, eyes straight ahead, waiting to be introduced. One reporter noted that he looked like a boxer ready to enter the ring. He already held himself like a man who commands respect – who commands the free world. And after his speech was over – after we had heard about the dire straits we’re in, after being told it’s time to “get to work,” after asking our country to embrace tolerance, curiosity and fairness – people cheered. Louder than I’d ever heard a crowd cheer before. And then there was dancing. People grabbed strangers by the elbows and jigged. Hope was personified. It was time for the Renew Deal to begin.