Inauguration: Notes from the Field

Ever been told you were one in a million?  Well, yesterday was my chance of being one in an (estimated) two million.  What follows are my own experiences with the Inauguration of Barack Obama, and my thoughts about what I was seeing.

Getting there is half the fun

Pentagon city Metro station on Inauguration Day

As I’d previously posted, there were a lot of closures related to the Inauguration, from bridges to interstates to Metro stations in the security perimeter.  It actually wasn’t until yesterday morning that I’d finalized on my plan of attack.  I’d drive to Pentagon City Mall, hope for parking, then Metro two stops to Arlington National Cemetery.  The first part worked out just fine, as the mall garage was empty, probably because no one could get to it with the interstates closed.  Then, I hit my first taste of the crowd that would be gathering on the mall, as a usually quiet Metro station was absolutely full of people.  Which wouldn’t have been so bad in and of itself, except the trains coming in had already been to six previous stations before showing up at Pentagon City.  I was actually starting to weigh my options of getting on the outbound train, riding to the end of the line, just to be then established on a train as it started back in towards the District.

However, the fourth train that pulled in proved perfect.  One door down from where I was standing there was just enough room for one person, and a bunch of groups waiting for a train that would have enough open space for all of them.  I squeezed in (amid shouts from mid-train that the doors wouldn’t close).  First time the doors tried to close they clipped the small cooler I had packed with four waters and two sandwiches, but I squeezed a little more, and managed to fit on with my nose up against the glass and forehead on the metal of the door.  Fortunately at the next station the doors opened on the other side, and at the following station where I was planning to disembark the platform was on my side again.  So, spilling out of the train onto the Arlington Cemetery platform, I headed up to start the trek into the District.

The one thing that strikes me now about the train is that, in spite of the crowd and the tight quarters, it was a very jovial atmosphere.  There was the initial concern of the door not closing, but when I’d made it on, people were joking with each other, and there was a sense that we were all friends.  It was the first of many moments like that, as people were all heading the same place to see the same thing.  Even when I hit an eventual road block where it seemed that two sets of police were telling us different things, people still took it in stride, and just found the best place they could to watch the event.

Over the river and through the Mall

The crowd just kept getting more impressive the further into the District I went.  The train was full, fair enough.  There was a constant stream of people crossing the Arlington Memorial

The crowd approaching the Lincoln Memorial

Bridge, which links Arlington National with the Lincoln Memorial.  It’s normally open to pedestrians on the sidewalks, but for the Inauguration we had the entire section of outbound lanes to ourselves.  The crowd certainly didn’t fill that space, but there were more people making the hike than the sidewalks would ever support.  As we circumnavigated the Lincoln, our line of people was joined by another coming up the Rock Creek Parkway and from the Key Bridge to the north.  As we made it around, there were already plenty of people camped out on the steps of the Lincoln, figuring it an appropriate place to watch, especially since they’d likely be seeing it on a Jumbotron anyway.  I decided to keep moving and see how close I could get to the event.

The Crowd immediately under the Washington Monument

This took me up the frozen Reflecting Pond, and past rows of porta-potties (for the benefit of all the people who asked about them:  I never passed a row without seeing plenty of “vacant” signs).  The next big group of people were at the WWII Memorial, taking advantage of ample sitting space in the steps and pillars of the newest monument on the Mall.  Just beyond was the Washington Monument, which was turning into a festival environment.  The Monument is on a slight hill, which afforded views not just of the Jumbotrons, but an actual view of the Capitol Dome nearly a mile and a half further up the Mall.  I kept pushing on, trying to make it past 14th Street to where the Smithsonian Museums actually started, but that’s where I hit the road block.  Turns out there were limited places where one could cross 14th, and they were through a massive crowd of people, so I ended up retreating to 15th Street.  If you look at the satellite photo, I was in the group in front of the Washington Monument, most of the way to the left (as facing the Capitol) and at the very front.  Unfortunately this meant not getting a good look at the crowd beyond.

So, this is where I stood.  And waited.  The concert from Sunday was replayed on the Jumbotrons while waiting for the actual event to start.

Welcome to the main event

The crowd at 15th Street at the base of the Washington Monument. Including at least on Jedi.

Odd reactions as various dignitaries were shown and announced on the Jumbotrons.  One story that is popularly floated around is people singing “Hey hey, goodbye” when now-former president Bush was shown, and these are accurate.  One group a dozen yards to my right started singing, and I’ve heard there was a chorus going on at the far side of the Washington from where I was.  Other reactions: Gore, naturally, got a huge round of applause.  As did Jimmy Carter when he was announced.  Bigger than either, however, was the cheer that Diane Feinstein got from the crowd, at least in my vicinity.

Bush was of course, booed by many in the crowd; I think that was inevitable.  It was interesting whenever they cut from a Democrat to a Republican on the screen as applause would very quickly stop, lest someone be mistaken for a Republican, I suppose.

The Oath as seen from the Jumbotron nearest 15th Street.

The event itself is always so surprisingly short.  I realize we’re all there to get down to business, and there’s only three things that really have to happen: VP sworn in, President sworn in, and the President addressing the crowd.  There was a combination of polite applause and some booing when Warren delivered the invocation for the event.  Lots of heads bowed in prayer with a few people like myself awkward looking around.  It was a safe prayer; I mean…it’s not like he was going to grind any of his typical axes on that stage.

Obama’s speech got the crowd really energized, which was the intent.  Probably the biggest applause break were when he said we would not apologize for our way of life.  There were a few major jabs at the Bush administration.  When, for example, Obama mentioned that the market itself is not inherently evil, only that it needed to be properly regulated, the Jumbotrons on the Mall cut to Bush as someone in the editing booth wanted to drive a point home.  I was far more into the little jabs.  Mentioning that science would be once again brought into the mix.  Mentioning that atheists and agnostics are citizens, too (though I wasn’t big on the word “nonbelievers”).   It’s the little things, as they always say.  But it’s about rationality.  It is, words I’m borrowing, Obama saying “Hey, America, you used to be so cool.  Come on, let’s be cool again.”

And with that, it was all over.  There was a poem and the benediction, but myself and most of the crowd had already started working our way out, trying to beat the rush (which really would have only been possible for someone who started swimming upstream when the Presidental oath was started).  I wasn’t big on the poem, but I was only half listening.   The Benediction was fantastic, both in its message and in the voice delivering it.

Home again, home again

The crowd starts their way out of the ceremony.

It was on the way out that the enormity of the crowd really hit.  I got to my place on the Mall around 9:30, a good two hours before anything really got started.  I left around 12:30, and most of the space behind me had absolutely filled up.  As had WWII.  Not knowing that all the crowd was on the north side of the Washington (that satellite shot would have been really helpful while leaving) I trekked out through the worst of it.

While rounding the Lincoln, everyone stopped and started looking skyward.  Overhead was a fat green helicopter, Bush’s ride out of town.  Photos were taken, and plenty of the more predictable sentiments were expressed by the crowd.  Rounding Lincoln, I came across something that rather surprised me.  Someone had erected an inflatable George Bush statue, posed like the infamous Saddam statue that was toppled in Iraq.  It was, for the amusement of the crowd, being repeated erected and toppled.  It looked to be an organized protest, and the cops were not shooing them off.  I’m surprised therefore, not at the demonstration itself, but that it was either permitted or allowed so close to the event.  I stopped for some pictures, then started back over the Arlington Memorial Bridge.  On the way back, I bypassed the Metro and just walked to Pentagon City Mall, about 3.5 miles down the road.

The inflatable Bush statue, mid-topple

So there it is.  In and out.  There’s not a lot to tell mostly because of how well the event was handled.  Everyone was there for one reason: to watch history.  People were friends, they were ideologues, they were all there because they wanted to be there, and no one was causing any trouble.  Reports later is that there were a total of zero arrests at either the Inauguration or the parade, which is simply incredible.  A lot of people I talked to expressed concern that the event seemed like the perfect time for someone to Try Something, but it was the wrong kind of event.  I was never worried in the least about that, and my lack of concerns were justified in the end.  So a kudos to all the organizations who put the event on, and kudos to the estimated other 1,999,999 people who were out there for just wanting to watch something incredible in our country’s history happen.

All photos courtesy the author, and released through Creative Commons