Using the cheapest tickets I could find, having just been laid off, I flew from Tokyo to Vancouver to Toronto and then D.C. and checked in to a small B&B in the Adams Morgan district of D.C. The B&B was across the street from the SDS's headquarters in the 60's. The house is still there and marks this neighborhoods' identity as a hotbed of sixties radicalism. It was cold. The kind of cold where in a addition to wearing a hat, scarf and gloves, when you see someone not wearing a hat you think they are nuts.
These (democratic) party get togethers are chock full of events to attend and this was no exception. Having a vast and strange network we had access to a diverse number and type of them. First we went to a "Thank You" to Gov. Dean by and for the DNC. This was held in the American History Museum. Which means we got to walk around the exhibits while everyone congregated in the main lobby looking at all the swells arriving. We got to spend however much time we wanted looking at the newly acquired and massive Star Spangled Banner. Replete with pieces cut out of it by souvenir gatherers from 200 years ago.
The food at this event was great and there had to have been 20 small bars placed all over the museum. Good party. Gov. Dean arrived late as usual and after Gov. Kaine who worked the DNC crowd. Dean's speech was a reminder to keep working on politics and make sure we helped pass President Obama's health care plan. He made it clear he does not expect the republicans to change their tune anytime soon. We foolishly left right at the end of his speech to attend a "Finance Committee" event at the convention center. I say foolishly because sometimes you find that the events you leave are much better than the ones you arrive at. This was definitely the case here. Now a finance committee event is an event for all the
We have had no funk. We have been funk-less for almost a decade.
On Sunday I went to Georgetown where Shepard Fairey was having a show with a bunch of invited artists and himself, which included him painting a mural. There were really some amazing art work there and using very diverse media. Including a portrait of Obama done on an etch-a-sketch which was just sick (as the kids say.) After wandering around Georgetown I was too tired to go and stand for hours at the free concert given on the mall, that and I am not sure what a Beyonce sings or plays or whatever. Besides I wanted to hang with some compatriots in a complete shithole of a bar at 17th and R. Where I am pretty sure it was possible to by a dime bag of smack from the guy who was always standing around the bathrooms. Having spent some time in Philadelphia, Fayetteville, and Central America I know shithole bars and this was quite the shithole.
Monday was Martin Luther King day, the timing of which must have been some kind of Obama campaign trick! During the morning we went and did a little inauguration swag shopping and I spent way to much money on crap. Even I thought the inauguration thongs were tasteless, except for the blue ones, so I got 2. Then we wandered down to the mall just to check out where the ticket gates and security perimeter were and it was in the direction of the event we would do for the Day Of Service, writing letters to "the troops".
There was nothing happening on the mall, no concert, no speeches, basically just the PIC finalizing the locations of port-o-potties, etc. But for some reason there had to be 100,000 people down there just wandering around, like Hope-Zombies. People really have been so thirsty for leadership and a way forward for so long now. This has been a bad 8 years. It was like a giant dementor administraton, sucked out every ones hope, and they sensed what was going to happen in that place 24 hours later. Like Obama was going to do one gigantic expecto patronum tomorrow, and he would. ... Just wandering around the mall they were, smiling goofy smiles at each other and buying t-shirts from the half a billion t-shirt hawkers.
That night we went to the Netroots Nation ball in Arlington, saw all the folks who have been working so hard on progressive politics. Spencer Ackerman, Martin Bosworth, (check out my name droppin') Raven Brooks of Netroots, Baratunde, The lovely Jane Hamsher, Christy, Lowermanhattanite, John Amato of Crooks and Liars, Darcy Burner, and another speech by Howard Dean and Donna Edwards who looked fabulous! Probably drank too much at this event though, because when we left it didn't seem that cold. The music and food at this event was really great. It was amazingly well put together especially for only 6 weeks planning.
Tuesday was game day and the plan was to be up and out the door by 5:30, a wise choice it turned out. Earlier might have even been better. I met my buddy who was giving me one of his swanky tickets and we would wind up sitting not fifty feet from the President. We were driven down to the security perimeter and walked to the yellow ticket gate. Where we found a line at least 100 yards long, at 6:30am. That was bad news. Did I mention it was cold? The wind was extremely unwelcome. I saw many women with really bad shoes. One lady argued with me that her Uggs where nice and supposed to be good. I pointed out that her feet were cold and she had just gotten here she conceded I had a point. Those boots are crap.
We waited in line from 6:30 until around 9 when the line started moving. We passed through 3 security checkpoints at the last one we were directed away from the main line of people to go and sit with the swells up front and up front we went. Sitting there around me I saw Dustin Hoffman, Denzel Washington, Samuel L Jackson, Oprah, Jennifer Lewis, Tuskeegee Airman and a Medal of Honor winner. I was able to walk right up to the wall were the seal of the president was, right below the dais.
I tried to think how it was I got here, because I felt a little like the guy in the story my friend told me about Jack Kennedy. There was a Boston business man named James Karakas who gave money to the party and never said much to anyone but was always at high end party events. Go to a event in the private Senate rooms on the hill and Karakas would be there. Go to some event in the rose garden and Karakas would be eating canapes off in the corner. On the day of the inauguration Tip O'Neill turned to his guest after spotting Karakas right up on the main dais area within 10 feet of the swearing in spot and said, look it's Karakas! They completely forgot about him because President Elect Kennedy walked in then and the inauguration started. It is not well known but Kennedy somewhat flubbed his oath office too, his hand slipped from the bible and he never put it back. After the oath and Kennedys' speech, Tip O'Neill had the opportunity to ask the new president a question and asked him what he was thinking about when he was taking the oath of office. Kennedy replied in that thick New England accent of his, he said: "I looked over and thought, how the hell did Karakas get a ticket for this!"
I sat in the cold and watch President Barack Hussein Obama be sworn in. In fact I watched him pull a face when Roberts blew the oath (didn't he practice?). How not surprising that a Bush appointee would somehow manage to inject some good ole Bush administration incompetence in the final seconds of Bush's presidency.
What an amazing thing to witness. I am quite proud of my country and this inauguration really was a 2-fer. We get Obama installed in the White House and we got to watch the chopper leave the capital building holding that small man and his wife heading for history and hopefully obscurity somewhere in Texas. Listening to that speech, I thought, Obama is the kind of leader that makes you want to be a better person. This is really a huge change for the country and I am surprised by how widespread the feeling of hope is. 70% of Americans either watched or heard the inauguration and the President has an 84% approval rating. Amazing really.
Anyway, that was my field trip...
