Impressions
I woke up early on Sunday morning and popped a couple of vicodins I had shanghai-ed earlier from a friend. Word to the wise, if you have a long drive to make, do your best to wake up early, eat a very light breakfast and take some painkillers. You will find yourself having a most pleasant drive.
I listened to classical music on the way down. No traffic. A breeze.
I had basically no plan at all and all things considered my plan worked to perfection.
I parked my car in a parking deck in Bethesda, MD (a suburb of DC) fearing the massive crowds, congestion and chaos that was sure to come with the inaugural mob. I just kept asking and following people till I found the Metro (subway).
A descent into the DC metro is like stepping into a scene from the movie "Gattica."
Everything was clean, efficient, and antiseptic. Quite a culture shock for someone used to the grimy underworld of the NYC subway system.
I latched onto some obvious Obama supporters and made my way down to the National Mall.
It was Monday, Martin Luther King Day. I wandered the Mall and checked out all the memorials and monuments. The PA system played clips of the "I Have A Dream Speech," and Kennedy's inaugural speech and it was quite stirring to walk along the frozen reflecting pool of the Washington monument hearing these echoes of the past reverberate amongst the monuments of endless struggle while realizing we were about to cross a new threshold.
I had planned to get up before dawn on the day of the inauguration but ended up getting drunk and playing guitar with my cousin and having a great old time the night before. So, I took the latest possible train that morning and arrived just in time to be about 2 miles from history.
The crowd was thick. The cold snapped you to attention and made frivolity and raucousness out of the question. It was the best crowd control you could have hoped for.
One thing I began to notice more and more was that black women definitely did not get the memo about fur being un-PC. And frankly, I could give a shit but let me tell you, they were decked out in their Sunday best and that meant FUR! It was like Ali/Frazier times a million.
But everyone was cool. There was not one shithead in that whole crowd of millions of people. It's hard to fathom that many people gathering and behaving so well. It was a great show of respect for the exemplary way in which Barack Obama conducted himself throughout the long campaign.
Even when Bush was announced people started booing and the woman in front of me said, "No, no, that's not what Barack wants." And she was right.
We were so far away you could barely hear what was going on. Despite all the liberal misgivings about Rick Warren I felt his invocation was entirely heartfelt and sincere and I appreciated it.
We were so far away you had to strain to hear. When Barack began his address the crowd huddled together and fell silent. I wanted it to be a transcendent moment but in truth it was just a speech. As soon as it was over everyone was like, "Let's get the fuck out of here it's cold, he's president hallelujah."
I think it's better that way. He didn't try to lift us into ecstatic glory, he was all business. But someday, I'll be proud to say, "I was there."
posted by El Bozo at 9:21 PM
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