Inauguration

Inauguration

I went to the Inauguration of President Obama on Monday January 21st.  The Inauguration is supposed to be on the 20th of January due to the 20th Amendment, but it fell on a Sunday.  So they moved it to Monday.  Even though I do not have the most favorable view of Mr. Obama, I went because I may never have another opportunity to go to an Inauguration in my life.  I did not get one of the tickets to be in the area where I would have a view of Obama.  The tickets needed to be ordered well in advance and I think it would not have been more trouble than its worth because it would have taken longer to exit.  I arrived at the National Mall at 9:00 am for the 11:30 pm ceremony.  Between the metro and the Mall, there were people selling souviners for the event.  Almost anything you could think of was for sale with Obama or Inauguration on it.  There were big screens set up in the Mall to show what was going on at the podium because non of the people in the mall could see what would be happening on stage.  Before the ceremony, the most powerful people in government past and present were introduced such as the supreme court (e.g. John Roberts), leadership in both chambers of congress (e.g. Boehner and Reid), former Democratic presidents (Clinton and Carter), former leadership in Congress (e.g. Newt Gingrich), and top people of Obama's cabinent (e.g. Eric Holder).  My phone died before the event started, so I was not able to get as many pictures as I would have liked.  However my camera was not able to take pictures of the screen that was showing the happenings on stage.  So there not any pictures I could have taken to show my experience.

It was an absolute zoo to get out of DC.  There were some many people and obstacles to contend with before even getting onto a metro train.  The time to leave was longer than when I went to the Nationals game in August.

Overall I am glad I went and experienced this event!