31 January 2009

Swearing Solemnly



What a great time to be living in Washington, DC! It's hard to ignore politics working for the government. Living overseas during most of the election, I could control how much coverage of the campaigns I read/heard. But living in Washington, DC was, as one friend put it, like being in the eye of the storm: everywhere else in the country is obsessed, but in the District, which votes more overwhelmingly Democratic than almost any other part of the U.S., there's not much activity--just speculation.

The night before the election, Obama held his last campaign rally at fairgrounds in Manassas, Virginia (click here for a few photos). The drive was too short for me and some friends to miss it, and a zipcar ride and mile-long walk later, we were standing in a crowd of 100,000 Obama supporters. Besides the size, the crowd was impressive in other ways as well--it was a pretty eclectic group standing together on a chilly fall evening: black teenagers from the area, Baby Boomers in suits and ties, Hispanic parents with their kids, middle-aged white union workers, teenage Muslim girls in hijab headscarves, gay college kids, white-haired senior citizens, and so many more. Whether political or not, America is amazing because it's possible to hold a peaceful gathering with that broad spectrum of diversity.

Take that feeling of excitement from the rally, and multiply it (and the crowd size ) by about 20, and that was the feeling on the streets and in bars and restaurants the weekend of the inauguration. Crowds always have their own attitude--any sports event, block party, street protest, or summer parade takes on a life of it's own. But I had never experienced such a sustained feeling of expectation before. On Saturday night, I saw spontaneous dancing and singing at late-night food shop Ben's Chili Bowl, then half a million visitors (again, dancing and singing) at Sunday's celebration concert at the Lincoln Memorial. The 300 or so Nebraskans at the Nebraska Society's breakfast on Monday was no less exciting. (Click here for pictures)

And last, a more formal affair standing in the sub-freezing cold for the swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday (click here for frozen images). Since I live inside the zone that was car-free, I offered up my apartment as a "warming station" for friends and colleagues before walking down to the National Mall together. It was frigid but fun, standing with about 2 million people, waiting while the Marine Band played, cheering and laughing, and the Jumbotrons replayed the concert from Sunday (any reason to dance and shout is good at that temperature). But it was surreal having those waves of cheering patriots go completely silent--not for the actual swearing-in, oddly, but for the John Williams arrangement of Simple Gifts. Click below to see a video of 2 million people being quiet.