After going through an unusually thorough screening with Homeland security, I boarded my Air Canada flight with a number of Canadians and Americans heading to Washington. When traveling, one often see travelers reflecting, in a clichéd way, their departure point or arrival. On a trip to Hawaii, for example, you might see an inordinate number of leis and cheap plastic “grass” skirts on fellow passengers, in Vegas, empty plastic souvenir ‘hurricane’ margarita cups. On this trip to DC, a number of Canadians and Americans were decked out in the colours of the American flag. Minister Peter Kent was on my flight, on his way to represent Canada in DC as minister of state for the Americas.
Next up, I made my way over to a party held by the British mission in DC. On the way, in Dupont Circle BDS-afflicted revellers were tossing shoes at an 30-foot tall inflated cartoon effigy of George W. Bush. In 24 hours, what would these people have to do with themselves? After the British party, I made my way over to Clarendon with some GOP friends to attend a leftwing netroots blogger party sponsored by big labour, netroots nation, blue state digital, and a host of well-read “progressive” blogs. With drink tickets, guitar hero, and a live band, the festivities certainly had a hobbyist-gone-mainstream feel. I met some very talented people working on social media the Obama side of the partisan divide.
Next day was inauguration day and the common wisdom was to show up at the metro as early as possible to make one’s way to the Capitol. Despite my best efforts, I arrived to the metro station to find it packed with people. Apparently, record ridership was recorded on the previous day with 600,000 people passing the DC metro gates. It’s a bit harrowing standing on a platform packed 20 rows deep with anxious DC residents and inauguration tourists when one indeed has to “mind the gap” between a packed station and the tracks. On the train, however, people were in good spirits despite the overcrowding.
I eventually made my way from the metro to the ticketed checkpoint area. On my way, more Obama kitsch tempted me as spontaneous capitalists popped up everywhere to hawk everything from Barack Obama action figures to Michelle Obama t-shirts. The ticketed area in front of the inaugural platform in front of the Capitol building had rows of seats for a few thousand people. Looking back at the national mall towards the Washington monument, we could see millions of people. On television, it was reported that 3-4 million people were packed in to see Obama take the oath of office. Looking across the mall, when the motorcade drove up the street, it was a shimmering sea of red white and blue as people waved their flags.
The Canadian embassy is located on some of the best real estate in DC. The building is about a stone’s throw away from the Capitol and had a great view for guests of the Canadian ambassador. Party guests at the embassy included former ambassador Frank McKenna, Jason Kenney, Peter Kent, Michael J. Fox, Newt Gingrich and… for some reason… er… Star Jones?
After taking a bit of a break from inauguration festivities, a few of us on the right headed over to David Frum’s to mark the launch of his new website New Majority. While inaugural balls were going on elsewhere in the city, I had a couple of invites for the post-inaugural Google party. The party was downtown by the Reagan Center and was the media/Washington insider gathering was well-attended by CNN, MSNBC, DNC and RNC people.
The inauguration of Barack Obama was about the closest thing I think I’ll see to a coronation. To be sure, Obama was elected through the democratic process, however, the fanfare, ceremony, celebrity, commemorative-plate-esque atmosphere and the millions of people caught up in it was certainly something I don’t expect to see again.
More photos (click any photo on this page to enlarge):
The Obamas wave to the crowd on the National Mall
Joe Biden is sworn in as VPOTUS
John Kerry imagines what might have been
At the inauguration of President Barack Obama
The inaugural band packs up below the inaugural platform
President Obama’s limosine drives by the Canadian embassy
As for Obama kitsch, this hand puppet was too good to pass up
What that Barack? You’re pro-death-penalty, pro-Afghan-mission, anti-same-sex-marriage, and for private healthcare?