Inauguration fever swept across Washington as Obamaites eager to see their man take the oath of office on Tuesday poured into spare bedrooms and over-booked hotels.
Despite the gloom about the recession and unemployment, Barack Obama’s inauguration has unleashed a spirit of optimism across America. Invoking history and optimism which has been missing for a while, Obama rolled into Washington’s Union Station on Saturday night on a vintage train pledging to bring the country “a new Declaration of Independence” and to act with “fierce urgency.”
“This is the first time I am here to support a president when he is taking his oath. In 2001, I was here to protest the Bush inauguration. This time is the first time my generation has felt proud of American politics,” New Yorker Radha Vij told DNA.
In 2001, after George Bush defeated Al Gore, the most riotous Inauguration Day ceremony took place with 20,000 protestors barred from the parade. Still, protesters outflanked supporters during Bush’s inauguration parade near Pennsylvania Avenue.
But Obama’s popularity is hard to miss. Babies are wearing ‘Time for a change’ outfits. Even subway tickets in Washington which used to boast a picture of pandas now have a picture of Obama.
Obama will help kick off the inaugural festivities with a free concert titled ‘We are One’ at the Lincoln Memorial. The first openly gay bishop Reverend Gene Robinson will give the invocation.
A crowd of two to three million is expected in Washington.
Those unable to make the pilgrimage might attend the next best thing. MSNBC and Screenvision are showing the inauguration in cinema halls.
