Inauguration 2009: My experience

President and Vice President

I had the opportunity to spend a week in Washington DC, a week which happens to correspond with the Inauguration of Barack Obama. Throughout my trip and the few days leading up to Jan 20. I will be posting photos and writing about my experience in DC during such a historic time.

MSNBC Mobile studio

Jan 18: I arrived in DC at 7 a.m. EST. Once I cleaned off the plane and travel dirt the friend that I am staying with and myself, caught the Metro to the Smithsonian and walked to the Lincoln Memorial. There was a concert that was taking place today. The list of performers was amazing, Josh Groban, U2, James Taylor, John Legend, Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce, and many more. In addition there were speeches from several celebrities like Tom Hanks, Samuel L. Jackson and Jack Black. The President and Vice President elect were both in attendance as where their families. They both spoke at one point during the concert. I’ve heard them both speak many times on TV, but to be standing there with thousands of people listening to those voices echo through the entire area was something else. I really felt like I was a part of something big, something that people will look back on in a decade or two and remember.

U2 performing at the Lincoln Memorial

There are moments in our lives that we will always remember. I will always remember this day- the first day I heard our president elect speak in person. After the concert concluded we followed the swell of people out of the area. We wandered past our Metro stop but because it was so crowded, we just kept walking. We didn’t have any set direction or destination, but somehow, we ended up near the capital and by all of the news vans. I stood in front of MSNBC’s mobile studio and watched them get set for the next broadcast. I watched an ABC News reporter prepare his piece. News vans where everywhere. From the local stations to national.

January 19: Today, instead of making to adventure into DC I visited the Pentagon, Pentagon Memorial and Arlington Cemetery. All three were very moving experiences. To stand in front of JFK’s grave and watch the eternal flame burn was something I have wanted to do for years. Finally getting to chance to do it meant so much to me. I could have stood there for hours, but unfortunately other people and tour groups needed to see it too. As I walked through the cemetery it was hard to believe the amount of people buried there. The Pentagon memorial was beautiful in a strange sort of way. It on one side of the pentagon and just there in the gravel, no fanfare or statues or even a fancy entrance. It was just some trees and benches honoring those who lost their lives on 9/11 at the Pentagon and on that plane.

Pentagon Memorial

Tomorrow is the big day: Inauguration 2009.

The Captial all set for the day events

January 20, 2009:

Inauguration day

There is absolutely nothing like watching the president of the united states be sworn into office. The entire Mall was full of people. Even in our attempt to get there early we still ended up by the Washington Monument. There was a screen near us that allowed us to watch the proceedings. You all at home might have had a better view, but I would never trade what I experienced. Thousands and thousands of people crowded together to witness history. We cheered as one when Obama, his wife and Joe Biden appeared on the screen and booed in unison when George W. Bush was announced.

At 12:06 p.m. EST Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States. The crowd cheered and cheered. It was such a wonderful feeling. Then to hear his speech, his voice resounding across all of the Mall. Around me I could hear people giving praise of parts of his speech, nodding when he said something that spoke to them. Once his speech concluded the crowds began heading towards the exits. Some headed for the parade route others visited other DC monuments or simply headed home. I opted for some sightseeing before venturing to the Media Tents.

The crowd went on forever in front and behind us

As I reached “press van row” as I named it, I saw the CNN Bus but unfortunately it was empty. No meeting my idol today. At the end of the row sat MSNBC and all its glory as well as a set of bleacher with reporters from ESPN and many others. As I stood there watching  someone from BBC Radio approached me and asked if I would like to participate in their live radio broadcast. I jumped at the chance and soon had a microphone in my face and was answering questions from Ros Atkin of BBC Radio about how I felt during Obama’s speech and how if I thought the people who didn’t vote for Obama would eventually rally in support.

As more and more people exited the Mall dust clouds where whipped up in the wind, dropping to already 30 degree temperature to an estimated 15 degrees. It was all worth it. To walk along the mall and see news cameras, the capital in front of me, to hear the cheers of the crowd as the President and Vice President made their way to the White House, to see the Parade on the jumbo trons, there is just nothing like that I have ever done. Nothing I will ever do will probably compare. I can’t think of another time that will bring me mere feet away from Chris Matthews or when I will watch Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow reporting live in front of me. So all of you at home, enjoy your warm houses, your HD TVs with surround sound. Yes I’m frozen from the inside out, yes I have windburn and probably some degree of hypothermia, but I loved every moment of this historic day.

Me and one of the other participants waiting for our interview on BBC Radio

For a long time I have known a Bush (Sr. and Jr.) in the White House, today brought a new face. A change that is so desperately  needed in the world today. As Bob Dylan sang back in 1964, ‘the times they are a changing.” Today we witnessed something, some people thought would never happen. I certainly never expected to see a president as popular as Obama. For the first time in a long time I felt proud, I belted “My Country Tis of Thee” I grinned and cheered and despite the cold, I wanted to stay out there forever. While history will tell us exactly what becomes of this president, I will always proudly tell my children or anyone who asks where on was on 12:06 p.m. January 20, 2009, that I was standing on the grass at the Mall in DC watching our President Barack H. Obama take the oath of office and become the 44th president.