"The World Has Changed, and We Must Change With It"

So I was lucky enough to get to go to the inauguration Tuesday, due to a fortuitous combination of happening to be on vacation and the fact that my friend Laine was able to get tickets (thanks Laine!). I have to say that it was an amazing experience, something that I will probably never do again but also something I will be able to tell my children about one day. It was so inspiring to feel like I was a part of history being made. This was my third election, but this is the first time I felt like I was actually voting for someone instead of just voting against Bush. I think Al Gore and John Kerry were both simply the lesser of two evils, instead of someone I have faith in to lead our country through these hard times. For those of you who watched this on CNN, I was the 145,193rd person in from the left :). Also, the picture above is from cnn.com, there was no way I would ever get that close! Here are some of the pictures I took and some of my thoughts about the day.












These are some pictures of everyone walking to the area where the silver ticket holders were supposed to stand. They had shut down all the bridges and tunnels into and out of the city, and were using I-395 as a pedestrian walkway. It was really weird to see all these people walking on the highway! I don't know if you can see it in these pics but that is actually the interchange between I-395 and I-295. Weird!

Once we finally got to our entrance, we started the long trek to the back of the line to get in. It took us about 30 minutes to walk to the back of the line. Fortunately once they opened the gates it moved pretty quickly and we were able to get in and take our place on the mall. We ended up about a third of the way up the National Mall, closer to the reflecting pool than the Washington Monument. We could see the Capitol from where we were, but we weren't close enough to make out individual people.
This was a picture of the silver tickets that we were able to get. I love how they make it look like a wedding invitation, as if Nancy Pelosi personally invited me!

These are some pictures of the view from where we were standing. You can see the millions of other freezing cold people! Below are some videos I shot of the crowd, the second one is during Obama's speech



I thought the musical number with Yo Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman was pretty cool. Aretha Franklin was also excellent, although I have to say I was a little disappointed that she didn't sing RESPECT. Also, I think Aretha Franklin is the only person in the world who can pull off a hat like this:

Damn, that is one giant sequin-y bow. Awesome!

Then Obama was sworn in, and the crowd literally went wild. It was quite the experience to be there as history was made. As usual, his speech was excellent. As Sars says "Obama is going to screw up, and lie about it, and do all the other frustrating and human things all the guys before him did, but praise God he's going to do it while using correct English." She also goes on to say that she thinks one of the reasons why Obama is so inspiring is that he makes us think that we, as a people, have the ability to change things for the better. As I said earlier, it's wonderful to feel like I actually voted for someone instead of just against someone. I know people have some concerns about his relative lack of experience, but in recent years politics has become stale and tired and I think some idealism is just what the doctor ordered. Also, I think that a lot of the qualities that make someone a successful community organizer also make them a successful diplomat. The ability to work and play well with others, the ability to get things done while dealing with multiple subcommitees, the ability to compromise. All of those things can only serve the President well.

A lot has also been made of the fact that Obama is this country's first African-American president. I am the first to say how fantastic that is. I am completely in awe of the fact that the people of this country can come together and make such a positive change in the space of just forty years. That speaks volumes about our character as a nation. Although change is slow to come, it is also constant and things are going in the right direction. And I think that is something to be celebrated, something that will go down in history as one of our nation's proudest moments. I am also proud to say that Obama's race had nothing to do with my decision to vote for him. I think it's equally fantastic that in this election people did not vote according to race, gender, or religion. I think that most voters do not see Obama as a black man, but simply as a talented and charismatic leader who was the most qualified person for the job.

Here is a video of Obama's speech, you can also find the full text here. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend watching the video, as it was excellent!

These were the snipers on top of the Smithsonian who were keeping us safe, although I don't know if you can actually see them in this pic.

These also did not come out very well, but this was the crowd waving goodbye to Bush as he and Laura flew out in his helicopter

And these were the people taking "Yes, We Can" maybe a little too liberally as they tore down the fence that was keeping us in and climbed out along the grounds of the Smithsonian :)

All in all it was an excellent day! Yes We Did!