Inauguration

Anyone reading this has already read more than they would like to about the inauguration so I'll keep it short.

I felt honoured to be a part of such an important day. Partly to witness the peaceful transfer of power (I'm floored by the very concept) in all its pomp and glory, and partly to celebrate Obama the man and the phenomenon. I told my girlfriend Britta the night of his election (overtaken by emotion) that if I were to dream up the perfect person to lead the US, that person would be Obama: his political views, background, internationalism, temper, intelligence and pragmatism. Time has tempered that but other than for a few issues (trade is a big one) I still think he's close to that perfect leader. Ok, enough with the weepy bit.

For all its inclusiveness and Wow-there-are-black-people-on-the-Mall, the inauguration was impressive mostly for its scale. Obama's speech was good, but not the kind to get a crowd emotional, not the kind make a song of. The selling of paraphernalia was surprising mostly for its tackiness. My favourite was a painting of a dozen black men on horses, Obama leading the charge. The rest included Tupac, Mandela, Bob Marley and Muhammad Ali. Epic.

My pictures of the inauguration, on flickr.

(Whew, so that's over. Now I can to write about other topics! Thanks for your patience Ari and Jacob.)

Some inaugural historical context

Seeger at the inauguration

It's a beautiful thing that Pete Seeger has lived long enough to perform at the Obama inauguration. The man is 89 years old and has been singing folk songs for more years than many people will live. He's old enough that he influenced Bob Dylan when Dylan was still unknown. He was sentient during the depression, was a victim of McCarthyism and was likely chopping firewood in upstate New York on 9/11. In a lot of ways Seeger's activism seems naive (he was a card-carrying member of the communist party at one point), but this clip of an 89 year old man who spent his entire life caring deeply about his country, performing for a sea of people to celebrate the culmination of a movement he was a part of, is moving.

An aside: Bruce Springsteen made a great cover album of Seeger's songs called We Shall Overcome. Highly recommended.

How to survive the inauguration

There is essential reading on Slate for Munir, Britta, Dave, my mother and anyone else who will be in DC for the inauguration. In it, you learn how to avoid death by asphyxiation while making your way through the hoards of Obamaheads. Important tips include:

...four people per square meter is a safe ratio. If you see more than that—especially in a moving crowd—it's a good idea to get out of the way. Otherwise, if someone jostles you, you won't have room to stick a foot out to stabilize yourself. If you fall, other people may trip over you, creating a pileup. Meanwhile, the rest of the crowd will continue to surge forward, unaware of your situation, and the pressure will build.

and

Another, more overt sign of danger is the sensation of being touched on all four sides. That's the time to work your way to the margin of the crowd. After that, the last opportunity to escape may be when you feel shock waves travel through the crowd. This happens when people at the back push forward, but the people at the front have no where to go.

Have a safe Obamauguration!

famous inaugural addresses

A sampling of past inaugural addresses from Politico:

20 miles from Camp David

After setting out at 4am and gradually progressing towards the tropical climes of not Canada, we made it to Myersville, MD, by dinner time. The trip involved me losing my passport, Josh finding it (on the floor of the trunk, wtf?), reading the last few issues of The Economist, lunch at Arby's and an excursion into a Super WalMart in search of an iPod-to-car cable. This allowed us to fully indulge in the playlist I carefully constructed based on the Internet's knowledge of Barack's music taste. Ok, well actually it was just a collection of albums I figured he liked based on a quick google search. Turns out Stevie Wonder makes great roadtrip music. Incidentally, walking into a Super WalMart was a life-changing experience. Calling it immense is not doing it justice. You could feed, clothe and entertain a town for weeks with its supplies. The rows of products were endless. I could just imagine walking into it coming from a poor country and fainting. Numerous times. It was spectacular.

We were welcomed to Maryland with an amazing meal by Britta's mother and step-father. Her mother then got us all to play the Wii Fit. Holy jeez, my eyes have been opened. That is a whole other post.

Tomorrow we go into DC and wreak havoc! I mean we get to see museums and memorials! Can't wait.

(As per the post title, we're close to Camp David, where Bush is currently. One last vacation. The jets we heard overhead fly whenever he's there I'm told.)

Obamauguration 09!

I'm driving to DC with friends Saturday. I'll do my best to blog the trip and the inauguration. Any requests as to what I should write about?

And thanks for having me along Jacob!

(photo of His Changeness from change.gov)